The Secret of the Traitor
by Dragonlover24186
Summary: The Will of Fire, present in all Leaf ninja, runs deep within her veins, yet when orders test her strength in morality, she follows the path. Can she simply give up all that she has lived with? Or is there a part of her that can't let go? ItachixOC
1. Prologue

Today was the day I was going to do it, I was finally going to get that hat and cloak from him. There was nothing stopping me, he was downstairs and it was just sitting there on the bed. Now I would finally have it. I tip-toed quietly into the room, stepping over the random things on the floor, including those sharp kunai of his. I popped my head over the end of the bed, I was barely taller than the bed. I reached over, but could only grab the edge of the cloak. I pulled on the edge and jumped onto the bed. I placed the hat on my head, it was a little big but all was well. I tied what I could from the cloak on me and it was a giant cape! I had wanted to do this for three days and I had finally accomplished it! I jumped off the bed and sprinted into my room. I hopped up onto the chair and to the desk in the corner. I stood up really straight and basked in my imaginary glory.

"One day I will be Hokage, no, the greatest Hokage who ever was!"

"If you put your mind to it, I'm sure you can do anything", said my father, leaning on the doorway.

"How did you know I was up here…"

"Well, we called you down for dinner half an hour ago, I figured you didn't jump out the window. Now what are you doing with my cloak and hat?"

"I…I was just…oh I don't know. I just wanted to try them on. You look so cool and awesome when you're wearing them, it makes me want to be just like you when I grow up"

"Mariah", he said letting a smile slip over his mouth, walking over and picking me up, "You remind me a lot of me when I was your age, I wanted to be Hokage too, and you know what I did?"

"No, what?"

"I always stuck to my training and tried my hardest", he placed his hand on my head and ruffled my hair a bit, "There is a vital connection between a time for learning and a time for playing. You just need to stick with it and you'll be able to do whatever you want. Now what do you say we go downstairs before your mother gets mad at the both of us"

I nodded in approval as he carried me down the stairs and slyly took his stuff back. I wanted to complain but he set me down in my chair and placed a plate of green stuff in front of me.

"Uh mom…what is _this_?"

"It's a mandarin chicken salad topped with balsamic vinaigrette"

I thought up how I was going to get out of eating this funny looking stuff.

"But mom I-"

"Mariah just eat your salad, it's good for you"

"Ya but"

"Look, a growing ninja needs vegetables, now eat"

I stuck my fork in and actually ate most of it. She always made me eat the weirdest looking stuff.

That next day, dad decided to once again take me to his office. By now I figured it was my second home, I spent so much time there. Mom was always going on missions or something and dad couldn't just leave me at home all day, they didn't trust me that much. Sometimes they would get someone to watch after me, some random Anbu or jounin that apparently had nothing better to do. I really felt sorry for those people, I must have been such a pain to put up with. Dad had to do all sorts of stuff from paperwork to assigning the random people who walked in missions. He would try to give me things to keep me entertained, but most of the time, I ended up getting away from him and doing my own thing in the hallways and outside. That was the case today, I was wandering around in the treed area around the building. I tried to stay out of everyone's view, they would tell my dad if they saw me. Today I thought I would be able to entertain myself better by taking one of his kunai. I made random marks on the trees and messed around with cutting some grass, but like any small child, started to tire of it easily and simply threw it into a nearby tree. I lay back on the grass and stared up at the tree. One stray leaf made its way down, fluttering ever so slightly in the wind, until finally landing on my nose. I blew on it, which made it rise back into the air.

"Mariah what do you think you're doing?"

"Oh hey dad, I was just enjoying, um, the shade of the tree"

"Nice try Mariah", he stated as he ruffled up my hair.

Why does he always do that!? It bugged the heck out of me and I think he knew that.

"Here, let me show you something cool"

"Don't you have to get back inside?"

"I could take a break for a while"

He picked me up and shimmered us to the roof of the Hokage's building.

"What was so awesome that you were going to show me?"

"Just look around, but be careful around the rail"

"Don't worry dad, I'm not going to fall off or anything"

I walked over to the front of the building, it was kind of awesome to look around at the village from here. You could see anything from there, people walking down the street, buildings bustling with people, trees rustling in the wind.

"Isn't it cool, at least a little up here?", he said as he walked over, leaning on the rail.

"I guess so, I mean as far as villages go"

"One day you'll recognize the pure beauty of this, the delicate balance between man and nature. This village is your home, you should always feel welcome and safe here. I know you can't see it now, it's not that evident now, but soon you will find that people do care for you and your well being. Who knows, maybe someday, you'll be the one looking after all this, all of what it stands for"

"I'm so not seeing this"

"Well give it some time, you will"

"Dad, sometimes I think you're just filling my head with nonsense"

"Maybe one day you'll get it", he claimed, as he messed with the top of my head once more.

I can't stand it when he does that, and he does it all the time! Now would probably be a good time to make my escape. I back up a few feet, very slowly, and finally put my hands together in a tiger seal to try to pinpoint somewhere to go. I eventually just thought up some place with leaves and shimmered myself there. Now, after doing such an action, I didn't have much time to get things straight. I was not good at exact location sort of teleportation, I always ended up a little farther away from my destination than I wanted. He follows me almost immediately, so I just shimmered randomly throughout the village. Everything was going great until I ran into someone, who knocked me onto the ground by my momentum.

"Oww…that kind of hurt"

"Mariah, what where you running from?", my mom questioned, giving me a curious and suspicious look

I simply rubbed my neck and gave her that smile I had picked up from my dad. She smiled ever so slightly, then grabbed the collar of my shirt and started towing me back to the house. I guess I didn't know that she was back from her mission so soon.

"Mariah, you really need to stop making your father go searching for you, he is a busy man"

"Ya I know, and that's the problem"

"Just try to see his side"

"Whatever mom"

Once again, my dad got home at nine or ten, it is fairly rare now to actually see him during normal living hours. I had gone to bed by this time, not for long though. I was wondering through endless hallways, seemingly leading to nowhere. The deeper I got into the maze of halls, the colder it seemed to get, the ground and even the air around me. The floor was starting to be covered with a thin layer of snow, gradually getting deeper and deeper. I didn't get why there were hallways leading to nowhere, I could see my footsteps from before in the snow, I was walking in circles. I finally got into a real room, but as far as I could see, there was nothing particularly special about the room. I got farther inside, the only notable feature was some sort of gate at the opposite end. I could hear a rhythmic noise coming from somewhere close by, it sounded almost like a breath…a breath of a very large something. It was really freezing cold, and something didn't feel right being there. I ran my fingers over the walls, they were solid ice. I touched the bars on the gate, it burned my hands instantly. I found out that it wasn't quite a gate, if I didn't know any better, it was a cage of some sort. I looked down at my hands, pale blue burn marks covered them, and it stung just being in the air. I heard something hit the ground, a large crashing noise, coming from behind those bars. I felt a cold breeze from that direction and saw two large blue…eyes. There was something living in there, something…that shouldn't be there, that is not…a normal animal. My heart started pumping faster and faster, I could feel it racing as my breathing started to quicken. It came closer to the bars, its front claws nearly out of the bars. I could see it clearly now, a giant white and blue reptilian beast. It had two huge wings, walked on four legs, long teeth with elongated canines, three tails, each with a pointed spiked tip. It had two, straight, shimmering horns out of its skull, and much smaller ones trailing across the back of its jaw.

"_Why hello, it is about time I met you in person"_

It…it could talk too…why did it want to meet me.

"_Oh, interesting. You do not know about me do you? This is probably the first you have ever seen of me. Let's see what I can do with you"_

It reached one claw through the bars. I backed through the snow as it slowly motioned closer to me. It caught my ankle and I fell into the snow. A blue aura started to creep onto my foot and up my ankle. It was a paralyzing cold and was starting to go farther onto my body. I struggled to grab onto the floor to try to stop it from continuing. My hands were slipping in the snow, I was terrified about what would happen if this continued. I couldn't do it anymore, I let out a scream. Suddenly I was jolted back into my room, the beasts chakra was fading as my body was going back to normal. Both of my parents were in the room, my dad with his hand on my shoulder, my mom on the other side of my bed, grasping my hand roughly in hers.

"Mariah, are you alright?"

"I…I don't…I don't know"

"Well what happened honey?"

"I was, wandering down these hallways, but I got to a room…on the other side of the room there was, I can't even…it was, the closest thing I can think of is…a dragon or something. I had never…seen something like that, something so…terrifying, so…demonic"

I looked over at my parents, who seemed to be having a mental conversation, she nodded and he acknowledged.

"Mariah, I think it's about time we told you something"

"What do mean, you've been hiding something like this from me?!"

"We were planning on telling you when you were older and could understand where we were coming from on this"

"Oh really, I guess the fact that there's a huge demonic dragon living inside of me was just one of those things you could tell me later"

"Mariah please let us explain"

"No!", I stared down at my hand, it had no markings at all. "That's why, isn't it…why people don't treat me the same…"

"You haven't had these nightmares before have you?"

"No I haven't…"

"Minato, I think it would be best if she stayed with us tonight"

"I agree, nothing will happen then"

I went into their room, hopped in the middle of the bed. I did feel better with them right there next to me. I slept for a while, but all night I would get flashing images of the dragon and what it did. It would wake me every once in a while, but they would coax me back to sleep with ease.

When I finally got into the academy, we had Fridays off. Every Friday I was stuck all alone in the house to do nothing in particular. My mom would always check in on me in the morning, but would never come back until dinner time. Dad was always off at the office and if I wanted to talk to him, I would have to find my own way over there.

"Well I'm going to leave you at the house ok, I expect you to behave"

Hours later, I of course got bored. I desperately needed something to do. I decided to have a little fun this afternoon. I went around the house, collecting a few key object, paint, soap, etc. First stop, Hokage's office. I wandered to the side of the building by the first tree, where people eat lunch on the benches and where they kept a small fountain. I undid the top of the soap, tilting it until all of it was slowly being consumed by the fountain. Bubbles started to erupt from the top of said fountain, so I decided to keep going. I dug a wide hole in front of the entrance to the place, then removed the dirt, and placed a thin mat on it, covering it with a layer of dirt. I got up on the shingles of the roof of the Hokage's place. I saw the circular thing with the fire symbol on it, wondering what I could put on there. I needed to keep going so I just put the first thing that came to my mind, 竜or dragon. Feeling like it was good enough, I kept on to the top of the cliff overlooking the area. There we find viewing binoculars, that are always overtaking someone's eye. I had gotten some charcoal from the fireplace and started to smear it across the edges. I backed away from it and into one of the main streets. I stared up into the sky and waited a few minutes. A crowd started to grow as they were all trying to figure out why they were looking up. I got bored of this and kept walking down the street. I grabbed a few pennies from my pocket and placed them between doors and doorframes all down the street. I also took the liberty of adding a bit of cooking oil to each doorknob. I found a few mailboxes and decided to completely switch all of their contents and fill them with some leaves I had found on the trees. I took one of the for sale signs from a yard, placing it directly in front of the gate. I was about out of ideas by now…so I decided to just go back. When I got home, the last thing I did was got a rubber band, tied it around the pullout hose on the sink, before I walked back upstairs to my room. You can only come up with so many things to do in an afternoon.

"Mariah Namikaze, would you come down here", my mother said from downstairs, rather ominously.

"Well hello mother, how are you this fine afternoon?"

"Would you like to explain to me what you did this afternoon?"

"Oh that would take hours, especially if I explained every little detail"

"I know we aren't here very much, so you have to do a lot of things on your own, but that's no excuse for things like this"

"Maybe if you guys were here more often, I'd have other things to do. Maybe we could actually be a family for once!"

"You know how much I'd like that, but we're busy"

"Ya I know…I'm just sick of having nobody to talk to"

"Just wait, I'm sure something good will happen soon. I know it's hard now, but that's only because they don't get it"

"I know, that's just it, nobody does…Besides you two, I'm alone in this"

"Don't worry so much, c'mon let's make dinner"


	2. Chapter 1: An Unlikely Friend

All of my childhood, people would treat me horribly and no one was really my friend. The damn thing inside of me was the only thing keeping me from any sort of happiness. If only I could have just one person treat me like such, then maybe things would be different. The only thing keeping me going was my teachers and my overprotective father, better known as the fourth Hokage. He was the one that was making me go to school and he said that I was very adept in genjutsus, I would be a very fine ninja one day. Another usual day at school for me, I walked into the classroom and sat at my usual seat at the back of the class. I was sick and tired of these same old classes but Iruka said I had to take them or I could not do anything with my life. Lecture after lecture, I was getting bored. We were going outside for some ninjutsu stuff and I just decided to just hang and lean on the wall. That is when someone came up and wanted to talk.

"Hello, I noticed you were just standing over here so I decided to come over here and see if I could help in any way. I'm Itachi Uchiha, and your name is?"

"I am Mariah Namikaze, nice to meet you. May I ask why you actually came over here?"

"Hm? I came over because you seem to be the only one in our class without anyone to talk to. I figured I could change that"

"You know, most people do not particularly want to be friends with the jinchuuriki in the class"

"You honestly think I care about that?"

That caught my interest.

"Well most people do care, care enough that they would not even look in this general direction and if they did, it would just be to glare"

"I'm not like that. I don't particularly socialize with anyone here anyway"

"Then we are one in the same, yet opposites. You being the eldest son to the leader of the Uchihas, and I being the only daughter of Minato Namikaze"

"I don't see how that has anything to do with anything"

"Maybe it does maybe it does not. Fate will have a deal in that hand"

"You don't talk to many other people do you?"

"Why would you say that? Just because I do not talk in the 'normal' standard does not mean I do not talk to many people"

"Whatever floats your boat there. Would you like me to walk you home?"

"Alright then friend, you can walk me home"

We headed down the street and off to my house. I walked on inside and up to my room. My father came in shortly after and looked like he wanted to talk.

"So who was that you were walking with?"

"Oh just a friend from school"

"He'll be on your team. Anyway, I wanted to tell you something"

"Ok go"

"As of right now, you are officially a Leaf ninja"

"Hmm? But why?"

"Well Iruka thought a few of you could go straight to genin right away. Tomorrow you'll meet up with Kakashi, he'll be your sensei"

"Why is he going to be my sensei? He is only like ten years older than me"

"Because he's the only free jounin right now, besides, don't you know him?"

"Well yes, I was just saying"

"Here's your headband, try to get some sleep tonight alright"

"No worries, I will"

I set down the headband on my desk and went to sleep. I woke up early the next morning and decided to go and find Itachi so we could walk together. I wandered through the complex until I finally found his house. I knocked on the door and he answered.

"Oh hello Mariah, what brings you here?"

"I wanted to see if you would want to walk to the training grounds with me"

"Well of course I'll walk with you"

We went down to the training fields to find that nobody else was there. We waited a good two hours before Kakashi and this other kid came.

"Hello I'm Kakashi Hatake, your new sensei. Now we have just one thing to do today, we're having a little race. All you have to do is beat me in the race"

"That is all? I can handle that easily"

"But no shimmering to the end, and you have to use some sorts of jutsus to make sure you win"

"I am still fast without that, you will see soon enough"

He laid out a map of the area we were supposed to be racing in. There was a lot of terrain that might prove to be a nuisance.

"So anyone have a plan?"

I said looking over at Itachi and the other kid.

"Oh and I never caught your name"

"I'm Hiro Nagano, and aren't you supposed to be the expert on these sorts of things?"

"You do not even know me, how would you know that?"

"Let's just say rumors spread"

"Anyway, do you have a plan Itachi, or should we just go with mine?"

"Go ahead with yours"

"Ok so we are going to gang up on him right away at this turn over by the school building. Use fire jutsus or anything else to cut him off. We will keep a good distance ahead of him, using whatever we can when we gets too close. If we are not sufficiently in front of him by around the three fourths mark, I will use some genjutsus to stop him here by the forest of death. Do we all understand?"

So we walked over to the starting line. We all took off at the same time and there was obvious differences in our speeds. I was the fastest, followed by Itachi then Hiro. Kakashi was still slower than I was but not enough to just leave it at that. I nodded to them when we got to the first checkpoint. Kakashi did not look like he was expecting any sort of jutsus by the first turn. They used a few fire jutsus to knock Kakashi into a wall and got in front of him. He got up quickly and started chasing us again. We had fended him off for quite a while and we were almost at the three fourths mark. I decided now was a good time to get rid of the problem. On one of the sharp turns, I ran straight instead of turning and repelled off of the wall. I charged a rasengan and went straight into Kakashi sending him flying backwards. I turned around and started running again.

"Woah what was that?"

"Just a ninjutsu, he is really persistent"

"Mariah, do you have any genjutsus to finish the job?"

"Well I do have a few but I am not sure about this"

"Just try it"

I shut my eyes for a minute or so, channeling a bit of the dragon's chakra into them. I opened them to reveal the beast's kekkei genkai, the Drakugan. It can mimic and store any other kekkei genkai, but it uses enough chakra that I do not use it often.

"Do you know any Sharingan techniques Itachi?"

"How did you…well no not really"

"Either way activate it, it would help me out"

"Oh I get it"

He did and looked over at me. I got it in an instant and was ready to go.

"Alright if we both go in together, we may be able to catch him off guard"

"Sounds like a plan"

I headed in on the left while he went on the right. While he kept him distracted, I went right up to him.

"Ninpo: Infinite Darkness jutsu"

The world and air around us turned into a deep black shadow. It was nearly impossible to see. I figured it would take him a while to get out of it. I found where Itachi was and lead him back out so that we could continue down our path. We finally got to the finish line and we waited for Kakashi. He took a good extra 7 minutes to get out of my illusion.

"Well you all beat me. Would you be interested in the Chuunin exams next month?"

"Why not, there is nothing better to do around here"

"Then it's settled, we're going to start our first mission tomorrow"

And that was the end of our first day as leaf ninja.

* * *

Mariah is 5ft 11in and has bright blonde hair when she's 24, for all of you who were asking...And yes I will be publishing all of the story but in small increments like this. I'm always willing to read other peoples fanfics so just send them and I'll read them ^-^. Please Review!


	3. Chapter 2: A First Time for Everything

We finally got a real mission, not a very good one, but a mission anyway. It was retrieving a scroll from one of the nearby villages, the Village Hidden in the Grass. We were about half way there, when 3 Rain ANBU appeared out of the forest. Kakashi took off towards the Village path, leaving us to deal with the jounin. We were quite outmatched just fighting three-on-three. The one I was fighting came up from behind me and threw me into a tree with some sort of lightning jutsu. With about 1/3 of the chakra circulating through my system being my bijuu's, any lightning based attack is 4x more effective than usual. I tried to get up by leaning on the tree for support but I could not get it. The last attack paralyzed my chakra network somewhat. I went unconscious for a minute or two then I suddenly got the energy to stand up. I had been training to control the bijuu's powers, but it always found some way to come out. It overcame my whole body and I was covered in an azure veil. It took the form of the dragon, wings, tails and all. I got down on all fours and finally regained some control. I lunged myself at the ANBU, sending him flying to the other side of the field. So much chakra, I had to let some out somehow. I charged a rasengan and glided over to the other ones and struck them. They fell onto the ground, dead. Itachi and Hiro looked over at me in amazement. I appeared over the first ninja, picked him up by his neck and drew my katana. I pulled back and ran it right through his stomach. I retracted it and I pushed the chakra back, dissipating it. I leaned on the tree again, slowly sliding down. Itachi caught my arm and pulled me up. I was breathing heavily and my hair was all in my face. I fell into his arms and barely held onto consciousness. After a minute or two, I regained myself and stood up on my own.

"Well are we going to keep going or what?"

They all nodded, but Hiro still wanted to talk.

"That power, it's the dragon's right? How did you control it?"

"I have trained to control it, as much as possible"

We obtained the scroll and headed back to the village. Kakashi must have been talking to my dad because he kept pestering me with questions.

"Are you sure you're alright. The Chuunin exams are in a few days, if you can't handle it then you don't have to"

"No, no I am fine. Why do you ask?"

"No reason, I was just asking"

Over the next couple of days, we were just training for the Chuunin exams. Our Chuunin exams were pretty straight forward, pass the three tests and you become a Chuunin. It was the same basic idea as Kakashi's Chuunin exam. We had to fight in Akagahara and fought our final rounds in the Sand. After the exams, we had just a few missions. Missions lately have been quite scarce. Even with the few missions we had completed, we were still promoted to Jounin in just a few years.

The next part was a hard time in my life and I am just going to pick it up the day after the attack. My mom and dad were both gone and I was left to attempt to take care of my two siblings. I opened my door, dragged myself inside. It was barely the next morning, the event happened just a few hours ago. My hands clutched over my head as I slid down the wall. Maybe it was just a dream, a horrible nightmare that I would soon wake up from…but it was not and I knew that. Nothing was comforting my mind. I threw myself onto the bed, just sobbing in the pillow. I just could not get to sleep, so many things filled my head. I felt awful because I could have helped or anything he just told me to stay back and just do my job and let him handle it…but I should not have I should have stopped him from doing it…and maybe we would have found another way, maybe he would still be here. I just could not handle this right now, I was just going to stay in the house, alone the whole day. I barely moved the whole day, I just could not believe this was happening to me. Why am I now expected to be self sufficient!? There is nobody to help me out now, nobody to guide me through. Two of the people I loved most were gone forever from my life…and I just did not think I was going to make it through something like this. Every once in a while, I would just scream to myself, it would echo throughout the endless hallways and eventually get drowned out. I heard a knock on the door and figured I should probably get it. I stopped the crying as much as possible as I opened the door. Itachi was standing in the doorway, it was raining outside by now. He had a very discomforted look on his face when he saw me. I just shook my head, letting the tears flow again. I hugged his am hard as I could, burying my face in his soaking wet shirt.

"Why…why Itachi…why did this have to happen to me. Why did they have to leave me all alone. I…I am too young for something like this"

"You'll never be alone, you have a village full of friendly faces"

"Most of those faces are not truly friendly, just fake smiles to confuse people"

"You'd be surprised at how many of them really do care. Now let's get out of this rain"

He stepped inside and dried off, I sat down on the couch and held my head in my hands. He gave me comforting words, and it helped slightly, but he knew it was going to take a while to get even close to normal again. He offered to stay over, but I refused, I just wanted to be alone for a while. He understood and went back to his house. The next day was probably the hardest. I dragged myself out of bed, threw on the only black outfit that I had. I walked up to the Hokage's building where we were holding the precession. I held up well until I had to say something. I got through with my speech and just lost it. I collapsed onto the ground, just letting the tears flow. Many people came to comfort me, I guess Itachi was right. The next week or so, I just stayed alone in the house, not really feeling up to doing missions or anything. People stopped by and gave me things, groceries and such. I thanked them, I barely ate and there was hardly any food anyway, so it was an improvement. When I finally did get myself together enough to go on missions, the Third would not send me on anything particularly dangerous, me or my teammates. Itachi came over often, to try to help me along.

"Are you alright? Do you need something, anything?"

"No I just…need some time I guess"

"Well ok, but you know, I'm always here for you if you need me"

"You really do not know how much that means to me"

I leaned over and buried my head in his chest, wiping my tears on his shirt. I was so glad I still had someone there for me.

"I know you're in a delicate place right now, but can I ask you something?"

"Yes Itachi anything"

"I was just wondering…would you want to go out with me…"

He looked down afterwards as if to just take it back.

"Itachi, I would be happy to go out with you"

"Really? That's great!"

"How long have you wanted to ask me this?"

"A few weeks now…I just didn't want to because…"

"I understand"

"So do you want to go to the movies or something?"

"Sure"

He clasped my hand and we slowly walked over to the movie theatre. We walked into the theatre, sat in the back row, and I had absolutely no idea what this movie was about. I did not even know the title. It was about a ninja, I think…a zombie ninja…

*I should tell him I get jumpy during scary movies*

He put his arm over my shoulder and leaned my head on his chest.

*This movie is not so bad, nothing scary has even-!*

I jumped and started clenching onto his shirt. He smiled and started stroking my hair. On the screen, the main character and his best friend were running through the trees back to their hometown. The evil zombie was chasing after them and had caught one of their friends, sucking his brain out.

"You're quite jumpy for a ninja you know that"

"No it is just that…if that was us…"

"You take these things too literally"

"Well if Ahhhh!"

I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed hard. He rested his hand right above my waist, warmheartedly stroking up and down. I looked back over at him and he gazed straight into my eyes and tenderly kissed me on the lips. It surprised me at first and made my heart skip a beat, but I enjoyed it. We broke apart for a minute, but he leaned me back on the chair and kissed me passionately, slipping his tongue into my mouth. After the movie, we walked down to the lake. We sat together under a tree, just enjoying each other's company. Later that afternoon, he walked me home and I said I would see him the next day.

* * *

I had 4 hours of Biology homework today, it was awful. I am amazed I actually got this chapter out! Please Review


	4. Chapter 3: The Night Not Soon Forgotten

Everybody in the village felt sorry for me, well, the ones that cared enough. The Hokage even went as far as promoting us to ANBU. One day, we were having a little team party. Hiro and Itachi came over to my house. We were going to play games and hang out.

"So what do you guys want to do?"

"Play a game"

"What like charades?"

"No, how about strip poker?"

Hiro said with a smirk on his face.

"I do not feel so great with that idea…"

"You have the cards and stuff right?"

"But we should not play that game"

"Are you not good at it?"

"Well…"

"It's settled! I'll go get the cards"

He went rummaging around my house and he actually found some cards and came back.

"Can we please play something else"

"No! We're playing this!"

He completely ignored me and dealt the cards. I sucked at this game so much. After a few rounds I had gotten rid of my jacket, shoes, shirt, hair tie, pants, and headband. Hiro had just gotten rid of his shoes and headband, while Itachi was down to just his pants. I finally decided I hate this game!

"You just lost your bet again"

"I am going to quit right about now"

"Well there is something else you could do instead"

"?"

Itachi came over to me, tilted my chin up, and kissed me, leaning me back on the carpet.

"I do not know what to say…"

"I do! Royal flush, I win!"

We all laughed and finally played something else.

After one of our missions, we were attacked by some ANBU from the Village Hidden in the Stones. This time we were way outnumbered. In an act of bravery and courage, he decided to use a fatal jutsu that would kill the other ninjas and save us, but he would not make it in the process. We did our best to convince him out of it, but he would not listen and had made up his mind. We had to get out of there. We didn't stop until we got back to the village and started talking to the council. They needed to see us in private, so we followed them into a private office in the center of the Hokage building. It was one of the interrogation rooms, but was also used for mission briefing that was too covert to let anyone outside of the room accidently hear. The fact that we were asked to go into that room was a bad sign in and of itself. One of the main counselors stepped forward.

"We have a new mission for you. It's going to be extremely difficult and requires a lot of dedication to the village"

"What are you talking about?"

"It's just that, we need you to eliminate the Uchihas"

That really threw me for a loop, why would the village want to take out its strongest clan and ally.

"They are staging a coup d'état and in order to stop the next Great Ninja War, we needed to ask you two to do this for us, to eliminate them"

"This is a task I do not even think we can handle"

"You are the only ones we can ask. Please, for the sake of the village if nothing else"

"The village would never approve of this"

"Yes we know, and we have a plan if you are willing to do this"

"Well, what is the plan?"

Itachi said, looking over at me.

"It's still in development, but the main idea is you complete the mission then leave the village"

"And live the rest of our lives as rouge, S ranked criminals?"

"It's for the good of the village, and you could come back eventually"

"Well Itachi, it is your call"

"I guess so…you never know what will happen. Who knows about this?"

"Almost no one, just us and you"

"Alright, we accept the mission"

They told us some details of the mission and that we were to complete it 2 days from then. We spent the next couple of days gathering our things and getting mentally prepared for the mission. I headed for Itachi's house to go and finish the first part of the mission. I took my shoes off and walked around the hallway around the outer edge. I walked by the living room and heard Fugaku talking to someone, so I decided to listen.

"Father, why doesn't big brother ever look after me anymore, even though I'm his little brother?"

"Your brother's always been a little different, son…He doesn't like to get too close to people. The only person he's ever really been close to is that Namikaze kid"

"Really? I like her, she's nice"

"Well I can't read him anymore and I'm his own father"

"Why don't you like Mariah?"

"I've told him time and again, I don't want him together with someone outside the clan"

*That bastard needs to mind his own business*

I decided to just keep walking down the other way, instead of listening more. I walked over to Itachi's room.

"What were you doing?"

"Listening to your dad's conversation"

"Did it tick you off or something?"

"No not really, just got me wondering"

"You've been doing that a lot lately"

He said as he came over and sat next to me on the bed.

"Ya I know…"

"You're not wondering about your choice with me are you?"

"As surprising as it is to you, I am quite happy with my decision to go out with you"

"Good, because I don't regret asking you"

"It has only been a few months remember"

"Of course"

He placed his hand on mine, he looked right into my eyes and I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"Is it bugging you?"

"Yes…I am…not so sure that I can handle this"

"I'm right there with you, it'll be fine"

I had known most of the Uchihas for as long as I had been a ninja. I would have to sever my emotions for the night.

"Are you ready?"

"Ya"

So we headed into the complex, killing anyone who came past us, men, women and children. I was starting to really have difficulty slaughtering all of these people that I knew and even the ones that did not have anything to do with the rebellion. In just 30 minutes, most of the clan was gone for good. All we had left was the head Uchiha's house, Itachi's house. We agreed that I would take Fugaku and he would take Mikoto. We had convinced the council that we could leave at least Sasuke alive. We finally got into the house. I stayed on the first floor while Itachi went up to the second.

"What do you think you're doing!?"

"A mission, that is all"

I reached for my katana and he knew exactly what I was talking about. I swallowed and walked towards him. I was going to finish off that bastard once and for all.

"Looks like the village found out huh? Well it's too late, even if you kill me you would have to kill the whole clan to stop the rebellion"

"That is precisely what the mission is, look outside"

He glared at me and I just gave an emotionless expression toward him. He ran at me with a kunai and I countered with my katana. I immediately shimmered behind him and stabbed back behind me, hitting him right through the chest.

"Well I saw…this coming"

Now it got to me, I slaughtered a whole clan, half of whom did not even deserve to die and I brutally murdered them. Why would the village want us to do this? I clenched my fist and hit the wall, cracking a few boards with it. Itachi came back down the stairs and looked at me with a bit of concern in his eyes.

"Are you alright?"

"I will be as soon as we get out of here"

"Let's go back to the office"

I shimmered us back over there, avoiding any confrontation.

"The deed is done"

"You have done the whole ninja world a service today and you have saved hundreds of lives"

"Just make sure neither Naoki, nor Naruto ever finds out what actually happened"

"I'll try. Only a select few will ever know about this"

"Well…we will see you later"

With that, we headed out the village gates.

* * *

Yay another chapter! Now we get to the fun part ^-^. I actually beat the original ending on Ultimate Ninja Storm! I'm working for the true ending now!!!!


	5. Chapter 4: One door closes

We have been in the forest for two days now, traveling west out of the country. We were walking down a less traveled path, off of the main road. We had not seen anyone else around until midday, a taller man, wearing a black cloak with red clouds came walking down. I was planning on just walking by him, but he stopped in front of us and wanted to talk.

"So you are the two Leaf ninja I've heard so much about, Mariah Namikaze and Itachi Uchiha"

"Yes it is, what of it?"

"Let's test your abilities"

I just looked at him like he was kidding. It is not every day you have someone knowing your name and wanting to fight for no real reason. There was nothing we could do about it though, he got into a fighting stance.

"Ok fine, I will fight"

I took off the hooded cape I had been wearing for our trip. I decided to make this a quick battle. I shimmered behind him, drew my katana and hit him with the hilt of it. I ran in front of him and forced him to look into my eyes.

"It is all over for you, Demonic Illusion: Nethermost Horror"

It calls upon your deepest fear, but something was wrong, nothing was happening.

"I have no real fears you see, you'll have to go for another way"

"Fine, I will go for a whole different approach. Kage Ninpo: Infinite Darkness Jutsu"

I walked over and told Itachi my plan. He nodded and activated Sharingan. I figured the other guy still could not see past the darkness.

"Kaze Ninpo: Savage Razor Wind"

I lifted my hand and directed it at the man. It slit open some of the cloak. Itachi used a fireball jutsu and he barely dodged it. It looked like he was not even trying, or he was this bad.

"Alright, I'm going to get serious now. Shinra Tensei"

He motioned with his hand and my body flew into one of the nearby trees. It was some sort of telekinesis. I charged a rasengan and thrust it at his chest, but it immediately vanished and I was pushed back by its force. I was starting to understand his jutsu now. I made the decision to release the bijuu's chakra. It enveloped my whole body and I got down on all fours.

"So it's true, you are a jinchuuriki"

He had a really suspicious look on his face when he said that. I shimmered over to him and gave him a taste of a real rasengan. I connected this time and he was sent through a few of the surrounding trees.

"Alright, that's enough Pein"

There was a voice coming from someone who hid within the darkness the entire time. How could I not have noticed him there? Very few ninja could elude my senses like that. He stepped into the light and I recognized him right away. My whole body tensed up, I wanted to knock him down where he stood. It was the man who was responsible for my parents death, the masked man who forced the nine tails to attack the leaf village, the man who gave me so much sorrow and grief. I went into the conversation with a level head, but it soon gave rise to an argumentative side.

"I have a proposition for you Mariah, one I think it would be wise to take"

"And why would I need to agree to anything you have to offer?"

"Come now be rational. Maybe last time we met, I didn't leave on good terms, but I'm here for another purpose now"

"Not on good terms? Oh how that is an understatement. You single-handedly caused both of my parent's deaths and greatly endangered the Leaf Village. Oh yeah, I am going to listen to you"

"You are a hostile one aren't you. I already have a tentative yes from Itachi"

"Wait...Itachi, you did what..."

"Mariah, hold on a minute"

"No, what in the world were you thinking, you know what he did to me, how it tore me up for months, I am still not even coping with it and now you go and pull this-"

I saw his sharingan active, I knew he wanted to talk in private, so I let down my genjutsu barrier. I looked directly in his eyes as the world around us disappeared.

"You better have a really good explanation for this"

"Mariah, think about this rationally, you haven't even tried to listen to what he is offering"

"Because I do not care, what part of that do you not get?"

"Look, he is still out to get the Leaf. I know we shouldn't care, but we both know that we do. We would be able to keep an eye on this, you don't know how big this could get"

"That cannot possibly be your only reason"

"Of course not, their main objective is to hunt jinchuuriki, stealing their bijuu and harnessing their powers"

"They are trying to what...There is no way that they would be able to, a jutsu of that caliber does not exist"

"Don't doubt them, they do have Madara on their side"

"Would that not be simply idiotic for me to join them then, since their primary goal would be to basically kill me"

"That's just it, he's willing to cut a deal"

"Why would he even keep his word, besides, there's no way to extract it without killing the host"

"Would you just think about it for a minute, listen to his offer, you don't have to take it"

"Well..."

I broke the jutsu, opening my eyes back to the road once more.

"Fine, I will hear you out, but do not expect anything"

"I wouldn't want it any other way. Mariah, you are becoming an impeccable ninja, I could recognize your potential from the first time we met. You've been training to gain control of the bijuu correct? I'm presuming that you now know of our plans. With your cooperation, I can assure that no harm will be done to you for the sake of extracting your bijuu"

He spoke more and more about his plans, making sure to flatter and to be as polite as possible, as to not make the situation have anymore edge. He was slowly winning me over with his talk of power and balance.

"I can even give you a position of high authority within the organization, nearly right on par with Pein, the public leader of Akatsuki. I shall run things from behind the scenes, unless otherwise specified, I'm not even a part of it"

"Alright, Tobi, your offer is quite intriguing. I accept your offer, with one condition,, you spoke of two man cells. I wish for Itachi to be my partner"

"I would not have it any other way. Welcome into my organization. Now then, I have already explained uniforms, now for accommodations. Within the Rain Village you will find a sectioned off area of living, there we shall talk"

Within a matter of instants, we were there. I was still very suspicious of his intentions and jutsu, but now that we were self proclaimed allies, I suppose I would try not to hold anything against him.

"Pein, as the leader of the Rain village, will always welcome you here and the residents will probably get to know you. We will all stay in the same general area, over here"

He pointed to a huge complex towards the end of the village, with 5 or so houses within it.

"So which one would be ours?"

"Whichever one you want and you can decorate it with whatever you want"

We had picked the one on the right corner, five rooms, two stories.

"I can certainly work with this"

I pulled out a scroll that I had in my bag. I had put lots of things from my house in it. I opened it up and started arranging everything. I also got some paint and some other appliances. Now it felt like a home, much smaller than my old one, but still a good home.

"You did this all in ten minutes? I must say you have the gift of speed"

"It is a family trait, as you well know. So who else are you thinking of recruiting?"

He listed off some names, I had not heard of many of them. Most of them came easily with a genjutsu or few for persuasion. We were on one of the last ones on the list, Deidara from the Village Hidden Among the Stones. We found him in his house and gave him the proposition. He declined as was accustomed to most all of them. Itachi said he would handle this one since I had taken the last 4 or 5. He went over and challenged Deidara to a fight. It was over within a minute, Itachi using his Mangekyou illusions. Deidara seemed to have had an interesting reaction to the genjutsu, but agreed to join. Orochimaru, one of the ones I had actually heard of, also joined for a while, but left one day. He said he was going to create his own hidden village and destroy the Leaf. I did not take him too seriously, he had been trying for years to accomplish that same goal. He was a good for nothing with us anyway. It is better for him to go off on his own. One day when we were walking back from a mission, there was someone who was following us. A girl quite a bit younger than me jumped down from the trees and did some handsigns.

"Kuro Kage Kaze no jutsu"

The world and air around us went into a black haze. The girl said something about taking off our hats and we did so, why not entertain her.

"So what is this jutsu of yours supposed to do?"

"Wh-why are you talking, I never told you to! And deactivate your kekkei genkai!"

"Now why would I do that?"

"You're supposed to be under my jutsu!"

"If that is the case, you need to work on it more"

"Shut up! Who are you people?"

"You just said to shut up, why would I tell you"

She was getting a little frustrated so I decided to go ahead with it.

"Well to answer your question from before. I am Mariah Namikaze and he is Itachi Uchiha. We are both members of Akatsuki and you are?"

"I don't tell my name to people who I'm going to kill"

"Ha now that is a good joke. Why would you think you would be able to accomplish that?"

"Because I'm stronger than you"

"Oh really? Itachi let me handle this one"

He had gotten to take on the jinchuuriki, I would be able to take on some random ninja we found in the forest. It is only fair. The girl just kept disappearing into the forest and occasionally would send some shuriken or kunai my way. I easily dodged that time and again. I felt like toying with her before we were done. I was messing around and she had gotten a kunai and was in close range to me. I grabbed one of my three pronged kunai and struck towards her neck. She dodged it and appeared behind me. I felt cold metal lightly touch my neck.

"Well I must say, you are not half bad"

"I could kill you without a thought, right now"

"If you could you would have done it already. Now I will show you my real power"

I shimmered onto one of the trees deeper in the forest.

"Where did you go now?"

Itachi finally spoke up from the sideline.

"She's in a particularly leaf-ninja-mood today. You'll get off easy"

I let out some of the dragon's chakra, jumped out from the trees, and skimmed her with my claw, sending her off a little in the other direction.

"RAAWWRR, I thought you said you could kill me. At least show a little spunk"

"I'll show you spunk Shiro Kage Kaze no jutsu"

Our battle field turned into 2D and white. She had a giant pencil and pointed the eraser at me. I charged a rasengan and waited until she thrusted the pencil at me before I countered it and shattered the pencil, and it must have released the jutsu. The chakra dissipated and I slowly went out of it. After a minute or two, I regained consciousness. I shimmered us all back to the Rain village to see what information we could get out of her. We brought her into the house and tied her to a chair.

"So what is your name, age, rank, and village?"

"Why would I tell you that?"

"It is tell me or 72 hours of torture"

"I've been through worse"

"I doubt that"

I activated my kekkei genkai and changed it into Sharingan. I caught her in a Tsukuyomi genjutsu that Itachi had just showed me how to enable. 72 hours of katanas, kunai, shuriken, and for the fun of it, a few ninjutsus also. Afterwards, she was unconscious for a few minutes, but I snapped her out of it. When she woke up, I asked her again.

"Name, age, rank, and village"

"Alright alright, not like you're going to let me go anyway. I am Skai Nara, fifteen, huh, and I have no clue about the last one"

"Nara huh? I happen to know your village and could take you there, if you agree to be my spy"

She just shrugged in agreement.

"You are from the Village Hidden in the Leaves, from a clan of shadow manipulators. Would you like to meet them?"

"Ya sure"

"Oh and when you are in the village, could you keep an eye on my little siblings, Naoki and Naruto. I have not seen them in a while and I would like to keep track on them. Otherwise, just listen to whatever you think is important. I will send you a message telling you where to meet us and when. You will get a headband if you talk to the Hokage, like mine but a little less…scratchy. Oh and do not tell them who brought you back alright"

"Sure and what were your names again?"

"I am Mariah Namikaze and this is Itachi Uchiha. You might want to put an effort into remembering that"

"I'll try, but don't count on anything"

"We are in the Rain village, we live here and our headquarters is here. Come by if you ever need anything. We will head off now"

I felt Itachi wrap his arms around me and kiss me tenderly on the lips.

"You didn't think you were just going to leave"

"Of course not"

After another minute or two, I shimmered Skai over to the Leaf. I walked in with her, having my hat on. I showed her where the Hokage's office was and headed back.

* * *

Yes Chapter 4! It's probably one of the longest in a while. I was so bored today, but I had an interesting biology class about the human genome project. I have no idea how that fits in, but its all that happened today ^-^. ~P.S rewrote a bit of this, so that's why a couple of things were lengthened, if anybody noticed it was longer!


	6. Chapter 5: New day, Same Old Faces

After a while, we got a message that Orochimaru had tried to take down the leaf and had killed the third hokage in the process. We had decided to pay a short visit to the Leaf. We walked right in with just our hats on and walked over to the dumpling place.

"I think we have been spotted"

"What makes you say that?"

"Someone sent Kakashi. Do not look now, but there is Asuma"

"Should we back off a bit?"

"Alright"

I shimmered us over to the outer ridge of the training grounds, over by the river.

"Well that did not work, they followed us"

Kakashi and Asuma had followed us over there.

"I had been called out for some suspicious looking people walking around the village. Who are you?"

I glanced over at Itachi and he nodded. So I grabbed the tip of my hat and pulled it off. They looked over in shock, they apparently remember me.

"Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai it has been a while"

"Is that…"

"Minato's first born daughter, Mariah Namikaze"

Kakashi said, reaching for a kunai.

"The expert of genjutsu and the only one who can control bijuu?"

Asuma asked, doing the same

"I see my reputation precedes me. Now if you would just let us by, we have some things to take care of"

"Who is the person with you?"

"I have one good guess, Itachi Uchiha"

He tipped up his hat enough where you could see his face. He opened his eyes to reveal his Sharingan, obviously we were not getting out of this without a bit of confrontation. I examined our surroundings to be ready if someone else was hiding around. The glistening waters and rustling trees were all that was around for about a mile.

"We are just here to get something done, so if we could just go past"

"Why are you here?"

Asuma asked, pulling out his blades.

"To take Naruto and Naoki?"

Kakashi stated, pulling back a step.

We were not there to take them back, more like we are not ready to, but I can play this game. They obviously do not know about it, so they just have the information we left. I was going to ride this out for all it is worth.

"Yes, we are. Do not expect to stop us. Now get out of our way or we will have to take drastic action"

"The ANBU should be on their way here"

"Then I suppose we will have to make this quick"

I shut my eyes and activated my Drakugan.

"Don't look into her eyes"

Kakashi presented, having experienced it firsthand.

"How moronic"

I simply waved my hand in their general direction and caught all three in a genjutsu. All colors you see with your eyes seemed inverted, that is how I know it is working. They were just standing in the same spot, paralyzed.

"I can't move"

"But we didn't even look at her eyes"

"I have other ways you know. Now, for the fun part. Genjutsu, the art of illusion is a wonderful thing and so easy to manipulate. Let us see how strong your will is. One of my specialties should work well here"

I summoned my sword and slowly walked over to them. I raised my sword and quickly brought it down right through Kakashi's arm. He held in a scream and I just smirked.

"I am not done yet"

I threw my sword high into the air and it fell right through his back.

"Kakashi!"

Kurenai said, staring at the spot where Kakashi was.

Asuma just turned his head away, as if to think he did not see it.

"Now for you two"

I grabbed two kunai from my sleeve and threw it right at them. It hit them dead on in the middle of their foreheads. I released the genjutsu and they all fell onto the ground.

"Kakashi got the brunt of it, you two should be just fine in a few days"

"Don't you think we should get going before someone else comes"

Right after he said that someone popped out of the bushes. It was none other than that crackpot of a jounin, Gai. He was still wearing his all green one piece suit and a vest.

"Let me handle this one"

"But I have not got to use mine lately"

He just ignored me and activated his Sharingan. Gai was not as fortunate as the others, he did not get the warning about genjutsu, he looked right into his eyes. I guess he was treated to a light dose of Tsukuyomi, because he was still standing, barely, yet standing.

"Let's just get out of here ok"

"Ugh fine, ruin my fun"

"There's still plenty of fun to be had, now that you went with the bluff, we have to follow it through"

"Um ok I guess. Tanzaku town?"

He nodded slightly and tossed my hat back to me, I must have lost it in all the commotion. I placed it back on my head and shimmered us to said town. I closed my eyes for a second and did a tiger seal. I was focusing on the town and where we could find Naruto, he has the biggest amount of chakra pretty much wherever you are.

"Found him"

I shimmered us in front of a modest hotel. It was still daylight, so Jiraya would not be in the room with him. I quickly put the keeper in a feather illusion and we headed upstairs. Itachi was the one to knock on the door. Naruto, being the baka he is, actually opened the door.

"Naruto, can we see you outside for a minute?"

Itachi asked, not revealing his face under the hat.

"Uh sure…"

I quickly pulled my hat down lower and made sure my hair was fully tucked inside, I did not need him noticing me if I could avoid it. Just then I heard someone running down the hallway at us. I turned around to see a familiar blue headed girl.

"Mariah Namikaze, how dare you show your face around here!"

"Naoki, what a pleasant surprise"

I motioned for Itachi to go onto the other side of the hall.

"So what brings you here today?"

"You know damn well why I'm here"

"Right right, you are miffed about not becoming a chunin"

"I'm done playing your game!"

She completed a few handsigns and chakra was gathering in one of her hands. It eventually got to a point where lightning was emanating from it. Chidori, unusual for one without Sharingan to perform such a move. She ran at me half dragging her hand on the ground. I quickly summoned a rasengan and easily countered her, and sent her flying back first into the opposite wall.

"You cannot even land a hit on me"

She was slowly getting up and navy blue marks were spreading across her body. When the navy faded away, it was all black.

"A curse mark, running in with the wrong crowd alright"

"It doesn't matter as long as I kill you"

"What does revenge really accomplish for you? Eliminating me from the picture will not bring them back. You do not even know the whole story"

"Shut up!"

"If you will not listen to reason, I will have to force it into your head"

She quickly did some more handsigns and all I could see was fire coming straight at me. I instinctively blew it back with a wind style ninjutsu. I decided to finish this as quickly as possible. I shimmered up to her when she was down on the ground. I picked her up by the collar of her shirt and made her look at my eyes.

"I will show you what this will give you"

I cast on her a genjutsu, another one of my specialties, nethermost horror. It brings to the surface, your deepest darkest fear.

"This will be quicker than I thought"

I set upon her vision one of her deepest fear, losing the ones closest to her. I cannot see what one sees from the induced effects of the genjutsu, but you can imagine what it was like. This time when she went down, her eyes became dull and looked lifeless.

"Now our job is that much easier"

"Oh no you don't"

I turned around this time to see the white haired pervert. He did not look like he changed much, he had that same crazy hair and that gleam in his eye.

"Now I want you two to get out of here before I have to pull out something bad on you. I saw what you did to the jounin we sent out after you, that was simply evil"

"It cannot be helped if they stand in our way"

"You would do that to your former sensei!"

"…Well he knew exactly what he was getting into"

"I hate to get rid of two of the finest shinobi, but I guess it can't be helped. Toad mouth trap"

The walls and everything became pink and fleshy. I had seen this jutsu before a few times, but I was never on the other end of it.

"I have no ideas"

"I have one. C'mon this way"

He grabbed my hand, ran to what used to be a wall, and made a sharp turn right. I knew why a few seconds later, a fire style ninjutsu. We ran down to the other end of the hallway and he was running with his eyes closed. When he opened them, he cast some sort of fire jutsu I think… either way it got right through the trap. After we got out of the town, we stopped for a second on a tree in the middle of the path.

"What was that back there?"

"You like it? That was Amatseru"

"That is great! I always knew you could do it"

I leaned over and hugged him. He seemed a bit startled, but hugged back.

"Well we better head back now"

We started the trek back to the Rain.

* * *

w00t 66% done with Ultimate Ninja Storm!!!! They are discriminating against so many people in that game...like...Tobi and Minato!!!! THAT IS JUST EVIL. Minato would kick butt!! I ugh those animators. They need to make a game for the people who read the Japanese version! Or at least bring back the 2 new english episodes a week. It's going to take until like February to get to Shippuuden!! They need to make a Naruto life and monopoly game. That would be shweet ^-^!


	7. Chapter 6: The Jinchuuriki of the Sand

Pein had given us another assignment to meet our fairly high quota, capturing another Jinchuuriki host, Gaara of the Sand to be precise. If I remember correctly, he was the Kazekage at that time. We had quickly made our way off to the Sand village, Sunagakure. Their security system was no better than the Leaf's. There was one guard at a time and he was not the best person for the job. I suggested that we just let him be, asleep at his desk, but he had woken up in the time we were debating this. I knocked him out with a quick hit to the back of the neck. We kept on through the village, finding the place that looked the most like it would be a leader's office. It was a tall, circular building in the middle of the place. I told Itachi that I wanted to take this one on, it was only fair that we switch every other. He obliged and would jump in only if I was having difficulty, otherwise he was staying just inside of the village wall. I knocked out the guards in the immediate way of the door. I was quickly sprinting through the hallways up to the main office. I hopped out one window onto the shingles. I broke through the window of the main office and found the red haired man there.

"Gaara of the Sand I presume?"

"Depends on who wants to know"

"I am here to take the Shukaku off your hands for you"

"If only you could"

"You underestimate me. That will cost you"

I lunged at him full force with a katana, slightly ripping through his arm. He sent four sand shuriken towards me that I barely dodged, sending him out the window.

"One tailed raccoon controlling sand? Well I suppose it is just a part of nature"

"Who are you", he said was he was hovering 5 stories above the main street.

"I did not introduce myself properly did I? I am Mariah Namikaze"

Before I could finish my short introduction, he had interrupted me quite rudely.

"The ex-ninja of Konoha, eldest sister of Uzumaki Naruto?"

"I never thought that was common knowledge, but yes"

"I'll help him out on his quest"

"And what might that be?"

"I could detain you long enough and contact him, that's about half of his quest is you"

"What trying to get me back to the Leaf?"

"That's what I figured, he never really told me, he just said a few things about you once"

"How did he find out our relationship?"

"You would have to ask him"

"Well, enough talk, it is time to get started. Kaze Ninpo: Savage Razor Wind"

Waves of razor sharp air flew towards him as he countered with sand. In this time, I appeared behind him and rammed a Rasengan into his back. He summoned his sand shield and an arm of sand came flying out. I decided to end this battle quickly. I charged a Rasengan in my hand, giving it my bijuu's chakra, and whips of chakra came flying out.

"Jinchuuriki Rasenyari"

I threw it straight at him, it condensed then exploded with hundreds of sharp spears. They cruised right on through his sand shield and it slowly fell to the ground.

"Ninpo: Chakra Paralysis"

I jumped over to him, hit him directly on the clavicle and in the stomach with a Rasengan. I grabbed him before he hit the ground and ran as fast as I could out of the village the way I came. Itachi seemed a bit surprised that I was done so early. He offered to carry the half dead Jinchuuriki and I could not help but let him do so. On our way over to the nearest extraction area, we stopped to tell Pein we had gotten the job done. I sat down onto one of the rocks, and activated the astral projection Jutsu.

"Alright we are on our way over"

"You two are quick and efficient, I didn't expect you back for another day or two", Pein said as he appeared in the room.

"Well we just about 2 hours away now, get everyone together and I will see you then"

I returned and we headed for the cave deep in the River country. As far as I could tell, no one was following us yet. We arrived in the cave and got ready for a very long three days. You cannot sleep or move around, but nothing stops you from talking…and talking…not shutting up for anything.

"Fine art is the beauty of that single fleeting moment of explosion, hmm"

"Would you just shut up about art, I really do not care about you so called art appreciation and I do not want to have to hear it for three days straight", I said getting quite annoyed by the constant stream of nothingness flowing from his mouth.

"Ya Deidara, just f***ing shut the f*** up, nobody cares about you and your s***** art"

As you can see, we are a very…colorful group of people, art lovers, foul mouths, man eating plants, we have it all. If only there was a bit of normalcy around here.

"Pein there has to be a faster way to do this"

"Sorry, unless you want to concoct a Jutsu, I have no faster routes around such matters"

"Now is probably a good time to tell you someone's following us, hmm"

"How would you even know, you are not physically here"

"It's a group from the Leaf, around eight people, hmm"

"Who cares about eight f***ing people, we'll be done by then"

"You won't be the one who has to deal with them, who wants to give some chakra to send themselves to delay them", Pein said gesturing around.

There was silence for once, but it did not last long enough. Pein spoke up again.

"Alright, Deidara, Sasori, you two are up"

"Why us, hmm?"

"Because no one else volunteered"

"I'm fine with that, not like we'll actually be fighting"

The next couple of days were boring at the most. My legs were killing me after standing for three days, I felt quite stiff. Well at least it is over now.

"Good work everyone, I'll see you all later"

With that, they all disappeared into thin air.

"What do we do with the body now?"

Suddenly someone burst into the room, rather loudly I might add. They destroyed the whole rock standing in the doorway.

"You're going to give Gaara back right now!", Naruto screamed as he ran towards the dead body of the former Jinchuuriki. A band of seven other people soon followed him, running to the same place.

"You can keep the body if you really want to, we have no more need of it"

"How could you just do that to Gaara, he was the Kazekage!"

"The fact that he was the Kazekage meant nothing to us, if the Sand was smarter, they would not have put such a weak ninja in power"

"And what are you doing!? Betraying someone who went through most of the same things you did, you don't feel any connection to him!?"

"No, I do not feel sympathy for them and I am not apathetic with them. Just take him and be gone"

"You honestly think you're going to get away with this freely!? I'm taking you back to the Leaf right now!"

He foolishly just ran towards me, Rasengan in hand mind you, but still a foolish mistake. I grabbed his arm and sent him flying into the rock wall behind us. Nobody else dared get involved, not one person. I figured I would not fight him, just deflect his attacks.

"Unless you want to be the next target, I suggest you just take him and leave"

"I'll show you that you can't just push me around'

He brought his head down and a crimson veil appeared, surrounding his body. He charged a Vermillion Rasengan and lunged at me again.

"Hmph, you do not get it do you?"

I covered my arm with my own chakra and changed his direction again by pushing him smoothly out of the way.

"Now to get rid of that pesky chakra, Jinchuuriki Ninpo: Bijuu inpeishi"

I placed my hands together, barely touching at the fingertips. I gathered a bit of his chakra and it appeared between my hands as a red fox. I pushed my hands together and his chakra veil disappeared. He was breathing heavily and could barely stand up.

"We will just be leaving you. We have other things to attend to"

I motioned to Itachi and we walked right past the group of people. I suppose they had enough to worry about at that point rather than us.


	8. Chapter 7: Bonding Quest?

We had finally gotten back to the Rain village and I was sick and tired of walking, standing, or sitting. My legs were still a bit stiff from not moving for three days. I figured we were just going to go home and that was the end of it, I was wrong.

"Hey Rai, do you want to go to the hot springs, you've been complaining about your legs for a while now"

"I have not said anything about my legs"

"But you have been complaining about it, I can tell"

"Well we do not have to go on account of me"

"Just c'mon"

He grabbed my hand and led me down the road to the hot springs we had in our little area of the Rain. I doubt anyone would be there now, it was the nighttime and not many people went there normally anyway. I went in and changed into my bathing suit and slipped into the water very quietly. The hot waters felt wonderful after the extraction. I felt a small vibration in the water, Itachi finally found his way into the water. He swam closer to me, put his arm across my shoulder, and I leaned my head on his chest.

"Well at least that is another one we can cross off our list"

"Are you worried at all about Naruto?"

"His silly ambitions? No, not at all. Let him think he can fix everything, it will spur him on"

"You like him don't you? Deep down, you really care about your brother, what happens to him"

"It is not something I would like to admit, but it is true. Same for my sister, but there is nothing I can do to help them really"

"I wouldn't worry about it, they're older now, and they can take care of themselves"

"I guess you are right"

We stayed in there for an hour or so, before heading back to the house. It was about that time again, to check in on Skai. I decided to just go there personally this time, she kept killing off all of the messengers we sent last time. I shimmered off to the Leaf and found her training a small group of genin. The last time I saw her, she was just doing missions alone. After the trio left, I jumped down from the tree I was staying in and walked over to talk to her.

"So Skai, how have you been?"

"Not well, I'm training a group of stupid genin. How's life for you"

"I just spent three days standing in the same place listening to an art freak talk about the beauty of art"

"Well it had to have been better than training genin that suck like I've never seen before"

"Anything new in the Leaf?"

"Well the Kazekage or something…he was captured but they brought him back with some Jutsu"

"That was my doing, yes, anything else?"

"Chuunin exams are in a little while"

"So nothing really eh?"

"Nope, and I've actually tried to pay attention"

"It is alright, I never expected it anyway. Well I should be getting back before somebody notices that I am gone"

I returned to the Rain and back into my house. Itachi came over, kissed me on the cheek and we started getting ready. I put on my usual mission clothes, got my headband, and was pretty much ready to go. We walked over to Pein's apartment, it was only a few doors down. I knocked on the door and he answered.

"Oh you got the message, c'mon in, I have a mission for you"

"Who else is in there?"

"Just a few people"

"Who?"

"What does it matter?"

"I am not fond of some of them"

"Let's just go in", Itachi finally said, lightly pushing on my back.

We walked in and there was the usual assortment of people, most of them I was not exactly fond of. I went over and sat in the big black reclining chair. We waited for a good twenty minutes in silence, before finally everyone was there.

"What was the point of this?"

"You all are going to go on a teamwork sort of mission"

"You got to be kidding…with these losers"

"What do you mean with these f***ing losers!"

"Like you are any better"

"Well you're just a b**** aren't you?"

"What did you just call me?"

"This is exactly the reason why I'm making you go on these missions", Pein said, trying to disrupt the fighting.

"So we'll argue the heck out of each other, hmm"

"I think it's a wonderful idea! Teamwork is an essential part of a successful organization", said one half of Zetsu, the other was just shaking his head in disapproval.

"Oh shut it you bipolar freak", Kakuzu stated, seated a few chairs down from me.

"You guys! This is getting us nowhere! He is right, we need to get along a bit more"

"As good as you and Itachi, hmm? If so I want a part of this!"

I shot him a glare and said, "No matter you and your stupid jokes, you still have a girly ponytail"

"Hey my hair is fine the way it is, hmm!"

"Oh ya, you and your emo flip covering your creepy eye, yes your hair is awesome", Sasori said rather sarcastically.

"Of all the people to argue with me, I would think of you last, hmm"

"Would you two just shut up already so we can get on with the mission" Itachi seemed to be getting a little annoyed at the bickering.

"Oh hey I have a good idea for a mission"

"Don't you want to hear my idea?" Pein said, somewhat hurt.

"No, grab your stuff and get ready for a mission"

I am sure Pein was thinking something along the lines of 'They are going to kill each other…at least I don't have to go' because he gave a relieved sigh.

"I wanted to ask you, where is Tobi?"

"He gets along just fine, so he didn't have to come"

"Have I ever told you I hate you"

"You're not going to get out of the mission"

"Whatever. Besides I want to go now, I have a good plan"

"And this plan is?"

"Psh why would I tell you? You are not the boss of me"

"Just try to get the group closer together"

"No worries about that, see you in about two weeks"

"2 weeks!?"

"Bye"

I grabbed my hat and headed for the gates, where I found everyone bickering.

"Everyone shut up and listen!"

The air went silent, and everyone turned to listen to me.

"Now that is more like it. We are going to take a little trip over to wherever and have a little bonding time"

"Bonding time, hmm?"

"Do not interrupt me, I am not done yet. Then what else do you want to do?"

"How about going to that ramen place you said was so f***ing good"

"Ya I want to try this food of the gods", Sasori said sarcastically.

"Ok. Then we head off to the Leaf. Anywhere else you guys want to head off to?"

"No I just want to go to this so called 'leaf' village, I've heard so much about", Zetsu said, finally arriving at the gate with us.

"Where did you hear a lot about it?"

"I haven't, it just seemed like a good thing to say"

"No no that is good, this is what we are missing, communication. Everyone think of something you want to say, and when we get to camp we will share our thoughts"

When we got deep enough into the forest, we set up camp outside fire country's border. It was in whatever random order they felt like setting it up in but I made them leave a space in the center.

"Alright guys, come here. I am going to start. No good food in the Rain"

"Why do all of the actual rain ninja wear breathing apparatus's, hmm?"

"Because they have never been outside the rain, they think the air is tainted"

"I got one, Hidan swears too much"

"F*** you Sasori! You spend too much time with your puppets, you need a life"

"Speaking of needing a life, what is with your religion? You sacrifice people and inflict pain as a tribute to your god? That's messed up"

"Say what you will but Jashinism rocks"

"See this is what I am going for, we need to communicate more. Say more things that bug you about people, and the people you say it to, you cannot get mad. Just say something that bugs you about them"

"Deidara, when you put your hands together for a jutsu, I think you're making out with yourself", Zetsu stated, pointing to his hands.

"You are a bipolar carnivorous plant, you are white on one side and black on the other, hmm!"

"Kakuzu has a lot of hearts, yet no girlfriend"

"What's that supposed to mean? Are you calling me 'heartless'? Sasori is the one with his heart as the only part of his real body left!"

"Hey you know, at least I have a good fighting style"

"No dissing people's fighting style, that is asking for trouble", I said, interrupting them briefly.

"This coming from the blonde leaf punk with cheap moves"

"What did you say!?"

"I thought we were here to get some teamwork skills", Itachi muttered under his breath.

"I will show him some teamwork skills in 4 moves!"

"I take it back, but I do think leaf ninja are punks"

"Why?" I finally asked them, since Kakuzu and Zetsu seemed to know so much about me.

"They are a bit…goody goody"

"And they spend a lot of money on useless things"

"What did that have anything to do with the argument?"

"Well…I could find much better uses for money"

"I don't even want to know what that means", Sasori stated rather confused

"So what do we want to talk about now?"

"How about play a game, hmm"

"What game?"

"Hey guys, would you mind if we talked about our pasts or stuff about each other?"

"That sounds quite enjoyable"

"I'll go first. I'm formerly from the Rock village, I was a high leveled Jounin. Art is a bang, hmm!"

"Not quite what I was thinking, but good"

"I'll go next. I was a Jounin of my village, I have a giant 3 pronged scythe. I believe in Jashinism, a bloody ritualistic religion that involves many dead bodies"

"I am from the waterfall village, who cares what rank I was, I like money. I do lots of bounty missions to get money for my own personal spending. I have numerous hearts and I take the hearts from my victims if they kill me once"

"I am from the sand, I left too soon to see what my rank was, I like puppets. Art should be everlasting and beautiful. I killed my parents and made them into puppets"

"I guess I'll go next. From the leaf, ex-ANBU, killed the entire Uchiha clan cause they were…ya know I'm not going to say. Oh and my little brother wants to kill me"

"Who doesn't have some bas**** who wants to kill them?"

"Psh no one good, hmm"

"From the grass village, bipolar right down the middle, I do a lot of reconnaissance missions, and I eat dead bodies"

"Well?" Sasori pointed to me.

"Oh you wanted me to go?"

"Actually we want a brief life story from you, we don't know much about you"

"We've heard things, but who knows if it's true, hmm"

"I guess. How about you just ask me some questions?"

"Just tell us the f***ing story"

I sighed before starting,"Alright. It all started when the 3 tailed dragon attacked the Leaf. I was the baby that saved the village by giving my body to it. No one saw it like that though. Nobody saw past the fact that it was in my body, that I had its soul with me. They believed that it would come out one day and smite them all, so they shunned me. All I wanted was someone who looked past that fact and see the real me, the person I was and who I had become"

I looked up at the stars twinkling in the sky and kept going.

"I just wanted to prove to them that I was somebody, I wanted them to look up to me as a great ninja like my father. They could not do that though, they would not get rid of their prejudice towards me. It is not like I could control that anyway, they were blaming me for something I did not do. I was trying to make it so that my siblings would not have to face that, but it only worked to a certain extent. After my parents died, I did not have many people who saw the real me, but the ones that did, I cherished them. They really understood me"

I looked back down at the group who was just staring at me.

"I am going to go to my tent now if anyone needs me"

"That was deep"

"No wonder she is so cold, hmm"

"She had quite a troubled childhood"

"I've never seen that side of her before, I feel bad for treating her so f***ing sh****. I didn't know"

"Itachi, you found an interesting girl"

"If I wasn't there through all that, or when her parents died, I don't know what would have happened. She probably would be a different person"

"So nobody in the village treated her decently?"

"Not enough of them and the few that did, well…"

I finally walked back over to them, I was behind a tree listening in the whole time. "I forgot my hat"

"Do you regret leaving the leaf, hmm?"

"At first yes, I did not know if it was the right thing to do. But then I thought about it, and what my father would have wanted, then it hit me. Everything happens for a reason, this did, and everything after it shall also"

"I'm so sorry for calling you a b****"

"Thank you. Anyway, tomorrow night we will be staying in the fire country so be prepared. Now I really will go back to my tent, goodnight"

"Wow being a Jinchuuriki really affects a person"

"Most of them don't do anything with the powers they are given, the villages just use them as a political power scheme"

"Wasn't it the first Hokage that gave bijuu to the other villages if they were his ally?"

"That really bit him in the a**"

"Ya that was one of the worst ideas in history. Do you know how powerful the leaf would be now, hmm?"

"It's getting late, time is money. So go to bed"


	9. Chapter 8: Phase One

The next day, we headed off toward the Leaf village. It would not take long to get there, but they insisted on complaining anyway.

"Can't you just shimmer us there, hmm?"

"I could, but that would defeat the purpose of this exercise"

"What? I'm f***ing dying from walking half of the continent!"

"Can't we find a nice spot in the shade to rest"

"You are such fainéants, it has only been five hours"

"Worst 5 hours of my life"

"Are we there yet, hmm?"

"No"

"Are we there yet, hmm?"

"No"

"Are we there yet, hmm?"

"Does it look like we are freaking there!?"

"………Are we there yet, hmm?"

"If you ask again, you will not be getting there at all"

"So how much longer is it?"

"Only a mile or two more"

"Should we be wearing a disguise or something?"

"No, the security system isn't exactly the best"

"And we will be staying the night" I stated, not expecting such an answer back.

"In the f***ing village!?"

"Yes, you have a problem with that?"

"No, no, it's cool"

"Wouldn't they know who the Akatsuki are by now?"

"Doubtful, they are not too quick with these things"

"Then why are _you_ wearing your hat?"

"Because they know me. Unfortunately my reputation precedes me all too well here"

"Doesn't it do that everywhere"

"Yes, which is why I am a master of Genjutsu, to cover up my reputation in the eyes of others, or just because that is my specialty. Does everyone remember the mission plan?"

"Yes, let's just get on with it"

A slight Genjutsu on the guards and we were in. I dismissed them to do whatever they wished until 3. I was promenading around throughout the training grounds and just the urban town. After my little walk, I decided to head off towards my old house. I walked right in and there were actual signs of someone living there.

"Seems Naruto finally caught on"

I strolled through the halls until I found my old room. I opened the door to find that everything was cleaned up, but still where I had left it. This took me by surprise, I figured he would have cleaned it out or something.

"You like it? I left it alone for you"

"Naruto, you surprised me"

"Ya, I have that effect on people. Hope you don't mind, I cleaned it up"

"Actually I am quite surprised you cared enough"

"I didn't just say that to say that you know"

"I see. Good luck to you"

"You're leaving so soon?"

"I have things to take care of, remember"

"Oh…I still haven't given up"

"But you are gaining the wisdom of a future Hokage, and not taking me on right now? Very smart move"

"But there will be a day when I do"

"To that day I say, koukatekimen. I hope you will be ready for what you are in for"

I shimmered back over to the park, to find Itachi there waiting for me.

"So what have you been up to?"

Just checking in"

"You know how dangerous that is"

"I can handle myself, you know that"

"Yes, and I trust you. Just tell me next time"

"I can do that. Let us go to the ramen place, we should be meeting them there soon"

It was about time to check in on the group. I had told them to meet us back at Ichiraku ramen. We walked the two hundred yards over to the ramen place, still with minimal disturbances.

"Twenty four bowls of miso"

They all just sort of looked at me in astonishment.

"Well are you going to order?"

He brought my ramen, it looked delicious.

"Let us see if I can still do this"

I cracked my neck a few times, and did the same to my fingers. I grabbed my chopsticks and started the feast. They gawked in awe at the sight. I was too busy scarfing down delicious ramen to care.

"Mariah…Mariah…MARIAH, hmm!"

I quickly glanced over at him, he was pointing to his head. I slurped down the noodles I had in my mouth and felt my head. My damn hood fell off.

"Crud…"

T"I knew you were the only one to love my ramen this much"

"Well, I cannot go without this stuff for long, it is too awesome"

Itachi handed me my hat back because I switched it a while ago for a hood. I embarrassedly put it on. I love my hat, but it is not fun to fight in…you cannot move well without the stupid bell dinging.

"So you guys think it's safe, hmm?"

"Well Mariah and Itachi ate theirs"

"Should we?"

"Just try it you guys!"

They reluctantly started eating it, then it kicked in and they actually looked like they were enjoying it.

"Wow that was awesome"

"Some real good eats, hmm"

"Just like the old days. So you guys want to spar or something?"

"Ya let's f***ing do it!"

We all headed off to the training grounds, how nobody noticed is beyond me.

"So who wants to go first?"

I cracked my knuckles really loudly so they could hear. Then it was silent. They should know by now, I do not use Taijutsu, it was just psyching them out.

"At least one of you has to want to fight"

Finally Deidara stepped forward, or was shoved to be precise.

"This should be quick"

I led them over to the training grounds, since there was nobody there; I figured it would be fine.

"Watch closely, it will be over in a minute or two"

I walked over to the other side of the field and waited for him to make the first move. He reached into his pocket and got out some clay. He sent a little bird towards me and I easily blocked it with a kunai, which kept going past it and right into his arm.

"Alright, time to get serious"

I shimmered behind him and used a low powered Rasengan to push him over to the other side of the field. I just did that so that I could get enough time for my next bit. I pulled my hand back and charged a Rasenyari, full powered, but not deadly. I ran at him until I got close enough to launch it. Right as I got into range, he jumped off the tree and went flying behind me, but that is not enough to stop me. I quickly turned around and threw it at him. He obviously did not know it was a projectile Ninjutsu also. A direct hit, as usual. These fights were getting more boring as they went on.

"Anyone else want to go?"

There was an eerie silence, apparently not one of them wanted to.

"You guys are no fun"

"I'll fight you"

It was a voice I slightly recognized, but I had to turn around to be 100% confident in whom it was, Kakashi.

"Now why would you want to fight me? Do you not remember what happened last time?"

"I know full well what happened, it's an order"

"An order? Ah from the Hokage I presume?"

"Of course and it's directed to every ninja Chuunin and higher"

This was not good, the Leaf village had an awful lot of ninja. If I could just get by Kakashi quick enough, I could just run for it. No sense in getting us all into this.

"You guys get out of here"

"Rai we're not just going to leave you"

"We can handle this together, hmm"

"Wasn't this a teamwork mission after all"

"Teamwork as in get out of here when I tell you"

I tossed one of my kunai over to Itachi.

"You know what to do"

He stared at the kunai for a second and nodded. The others were just in awe that he would willingly leave, but they soon followed.

"Alright now it is just me and you"

"No it's just you and the Leaf village. One person in particular"

"Who…"

"Just you and me"

"Naoki, long time no see. Training with Orochimaru did not go as well as you wanted huh?"

"Actually I learned a lot"

"What about the whole killing me thing?"

"Naruto convinced me otherwise, but I can still beat the crap out of you for what you did"

"So Naruto never told you huh?"

"Oh he told me, and I'm going to fight you for not telling me the truth!"

"Well truth is always stranger than fiction and I did not want to tell you for the Leaf's sake"

"Enough with this useless conversation, it's you and me now"

"You honestly believe you can beat me by yourself?"

"Of course not, I'm not that overconfident. I have a village worth of backup"

"The odds are not in my favor, but the plan will succeed either way", I said to myself quite softly.

"I plan on getting this done without having to ask for reinforcements, Kuwashii Chidori"

She gathered a Chidori in her hand that enveloped the whole field. Dodging the random shocks was hard enough, but she had activated her curse mark too. She had amazing mobility for having such a wingspan. I got hit with a few stray bolts, but backed up enough to charge a Rasenyari. I launched it through the barrage of lightning and it cut through numerous streams. It went right for the epicenter of it all. It hit her dead on her arm, but the lightning did not falter. Instead she dove right at me and hit my stomach. I shimmered off to the other side of the field and touched the corner of my mouth, blood. Ok she was pissing me off now. She came up for another Chidori strike, I grabbed her hand and redirected her into the tree. I quickly ran over there and grabbed her by her neck. I forced her to look into my eyes, casting an almost lethal Genjutsu on her. Afterwards she fell to the ground, unconscious. I heard that all too familiar sound of the chirping birds. It was Kakashi's turn now. I waited until the last possible second to shimmer behind him, Rasenganing his back sending him through a few trees.

"Kage Ninpo: Infinite darkness jutsu"

The surrounding area turned completely black. I stepped into it and I was the only one who could see through the illusion.

"Kaze Ninpo: savage razor wind"

I lifted my hand and directed it towards Kakashi, who was just now getting up. My attack was nearly impossible to dodge and hit him dead on. His clothes had pieces torn off and he was bleeding from nearly everywhere.

"Now is there anyone else who wants to try?"

"I think it's about time for me to try", Sasuke said coming out from behind the tree.

"You realize, one on one will not work on me"

"I see that, that's why it's not one on one, it's six on one. Asuma, Gai, Neji, Shikamaru, Kiba and I"

"Then we will see if this works out with just you"

They all took off in different directions, they seemed to have a plan in place.

"Dynamic entry!", Gai shouted.

He completely missed me and I redirected him to hit Asuma. Kiba used his tunneling fang and just caught the edge of my led. I heard that damn chirping noise again. I turned around and this time it was Sasuke. I was about to dodge it, but I could not move my legs. Shikamaru caught me in a shadow possession while I was distracted. I only managed to get my top half free enough to get a counter Rasengan. I got an aftershock, but mainly missed the brunt of it. I felt a sharp pain through my back, Kakashi seemed to have gotten back up while we were fighting.

"Ninpo chakra paralysis"

I ran towards the mass of people, everyone of them I hit had their chakra networks stopped. I had hit four of them, all that was left was Kakashi and Sasuke.

Why don't you just give up on this hopeless attempt?"

"I do not give up remember. I am going to fight until one side wins"

Pretty much even to the 2 Sharingan users, I really needed to come up with a plan. Strategy was not my strong suit in the heat of battle, so I just had to wing it.

"Fuuton: Moretsu Tatsumaki (Wind Style: Raging Tornado)"

I grabbed Kakashi's and Sasuke's arms and quickly spun them around once, releasing all of the wind chakra I had left thus creating a razor tornado. I jumped back a ways and hoped it would work. When the jutsu dissipated they were all cut up and I thought I had done it. Then I felt a sharp pain in my side as I went flying the opposite direction towards a tree.

"I was never too great at fast paced strategy, especially with unknowns. You realize I would have won if you had not shown up", I said, looking my brother in the eye.

"Well we sent the best and they couldn't get it done, so I had to come and help out"

"It is…not…over"

"For now it is"

My vision slowly faded to black as I slowly slid down the tree.

I slowly opened my eyes, regaining feeling in my limbs.

"Well well, look who is finally getting back to earth"

I quickly tried to swing at him, or at least do some handsigns, but I could not move. I was chained to a wall…hanging like a ragdoll with shackles around my wrists. At least they were smart enough to chain my hands away from each other.

"What is with all this"

I looked over at the shadowy figure in the doorway. When he finally stepped into the dim light, I saw it was Ibiki.

"Your brother thought it was a good idea to keep any chance of escape at a minimum"

"And to send the Leaf's best interrogator?"

"We needed some information out of you also"

"Like hell I am going to talk"

"You'll see it my way soon. Where are the rest of them and what are you planning?"

"I am not going to tell you"

He drew a kunai from under his trench coat. I could see blood on the tip, but the rest gleamed in the stream of light illuminating the room. He held it close to my throat as I struggled to lean away.

"Now answer the question"

"Do your own damn research!"

He was a bit frustrated by my constant answers. I attempted to activate my bijuu's Kekkei Genkai, but nothing. I could not understand…it did not even use .10% of my chakra.

"What the…"

"Oh right, we gave you a poison that blocks your chakra network for hours, even if you wake up. And without any Taijutsu skills, you're defenseless"

I jerked forward and must have reopened some of the internal injuries from the fight earlier. I felt a warm trickle of blood run down the side of my mouth. He drew the kunai again and moved it down towards my gut. After a moment or two jabbed it into my gut. He slowly applied more and more pressure digging deeper into my stomach. I started coughing up more blood as he asked again.

"Just answer the questions and we'll get you fixed up"

"Go to hell!"

He put away his kunai and walked back out of the silhouette of the doorway. When he was finally far enough away that I could not hear his footsteps, I reached into my cloak and got my tracking kunai with my teeth. I jerked my head to one side and threw it against the wall.

"Now I just have to wait"

I breathed a sigh of relief, I did all I had to. After about twenty minutes, I heard footsteps again in the hallway. This time it was a friendly face, Itachi.

"Don't you think you went a little overboard here?"

"Eh I did what I had to", I said coughing up a bit more blood.

"See I should've done this with you"

"Well if I used the Konoha Ryuu: Kami Chisoku (Leaf Style: God Speed) I would have totally owned them"

I cringed in pain a little when he took the shackles off, I had numerous wounds they were resting on. After he did, I fell immediately down onto his chest.

"I knew you would miss me, but this much"

"I cannot really move well right now"

I was trying to hide the fact that I was blushing because of it.

"Well, do you want me to carry you or something?"

"No, how about you just help me"

"You know I really wouldn't mind carrying you"

"I can walk just fine without you!"

I staggered to my feet and took a few steps before I fell over again and he caught me by my arm and stomach.

"Ok fine, I do need a little bit of help"

He pulled my arm over his shoulder and we started running down the hallway.

"So did you get the documents?"

"Yup, Deidara and Sasori are waiting right down this hall. Kakuzu and Hidan are outside with Zetsu making sure we have a straight shot out"

"Good, now when we are ready, we can enable the last section of the plan"

"It will take a while to get there though"

"Just another year or so. Oh hey, did you go and get Skai?"

"I took care of everything, now just relax or you're going to get even more injured. You're bleeding all over my shirt"

"Well, I had to go and be the diversion, otherwise we would not have known where they were"

"True true, are you ok?"

"Ya, I am fine. Just lost a lot of blood, if I pass out"

"You're not going to pass out"

"If I pass out…"

I was not able to finish that sentence because I fell into a state of slight consciousness.

"Alright fine, you're passing out from blood loss"

He stopped running and set me down. After another second or two, he picked me back up, my limp body in his arms. He quickly checked a few medical signs, I was fine, just needed to rest a bit. We finally got outside and found Deidara and Sasori.

"Wow that's brutal, hmm"

"Eh she'll be fine in a few days"

"Yet she is almost passed out and is becoming really pale"

"Look I know her limit, she'll be fine. Now let's get going"

We got back to where Hidan, Kakuzu, and Zetsu were at the gate.

Hidan-"Holy sh**"

"You guys too? It's not that bad"

"Are you looking at the same person?"

"You guys obviously don't know her"

"Apparently, hmm"

We grabbed what we needed to and started on the long trek back to the Rain. It would only take us around nine hours to get over there usually, but it is becoming winter and there is some snow on the ground making running over there a bit more difficult. When we finally got back over there, we checked in with Pein and he walked me back over to our house. We got in the door and he set me down on the bed, being careful not to open any of the other wounds. After he was sure I was ok and comfortable, he lay down next to me and fell asleep.

* * *

OMG I'm back!!!!! Lol some people were askin where I was, I will try to add at least one chapter of one of my stories a day. School is starting to calm down a bit and I should have enough time to. ^-^


	10. Chapter 9: A New Chapter, New Beginnings

I woke up with a splitting pain in my stomach and wrists. I managed to get up and look out the window. It was probably around 3 or 4 in the afternoon by the way the rain was falling. I went into the bathroom and looked under my shirt, examining my injury. It was bandaged and seemed to have stopped bleeding. The last time I ever act as a distraction. I threw my cloak on and went downstairs, there I found Itachi sitting in the living room sharpening some kunai.

"Hi, so how did it go?"

"It went fine, but you do realize that they'll come here now?"

"Yes, I understand that, but here we have the upper hand"

"Unless they're smart enough to make their move when we're in our two man cells"

"That is a strong possibility also"

"Pein isn't going to give us a mission until you have fully healed"

We were bored so we decided to play a game. Since I beyond suck at shougi, we played nihongo , which is somewhat like scrabble. About 30 minutes into it I was so stuck. I had 3 Q's, 1 Z, 4 E's, and 1 A. Itachi kept passing it back to me so I had to spell out freakish words, but this turn I was so stuck. He had like 12 letters, which I thought was against the rules but I was not complaining, I spelt out words I made up like zukai and treckque.

"Pass, I have no good letters anyway"

"Alright I got something good"

He started putting on the letters, at first I just dismissed it and tried to make some sense of my letters. That is when I truly noticed what he spelt…

W-i-l-l-y-o-u-m-a-r-r-y-m-e

I looked at the board for a minute, seeing if what I saw was correct…it was all there. Out of his sleeve he took out a small box. He opened it, it had a white gold band with a star sapphire on it.

"Well? Mariah Namikaze will you marry me?"

"Of course Itachi!"

He slipped the ring on my finger, it was big enough that I could show it off and people would notice it, but small enough so that people would not think it was fake.

"Were you planning this when we started the game?"

"No, not at first, but then I thought about it and it seemed like a good time"

"Itachi, that is so sweet"

"Well I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you"

"I love you too, so do you want to tell anyone?"

"I think they'll notice, don't you?"

"Yes probably. When do you want to actually get married?"

"I was thinking as soon as possible"

"That is fine with me, but just us and maybe a few friends"

-"If you want it like that, then sure"

The next few weeks, we did not really do anything, just preparation stuff. One day when we were walking around the village, we ran into Skai and Tobi. I started asking her the usual rounds of questions and she noticed the ring on my finger…I talk a lot with my hands for apparent reason.

"So you two are finally engaged? Sheesh, Itachi, took you long enough."

I noticed the ring on her finger and put 2 and 2 together.

"You two? Together? No way! You are, total opposites!"

"You do know how old he is, right?"

"Yes, I know. You think I'm so stupid as to agree to a marriage in which I don't even really know who the guy I'm marrying is? How long have you two known each other?"

"Oh I do not know… 15 years"

"Holy crap! That's almost longer than I have been alive"

"Yup that is just us I suppose, friends since we were little"

"And you just now get engaged? Couldn't you have done it earlier?"

"Well yes but we didn't feel the need to rush things"

"Apparently"

"Either way, you can go now. I cannot think of anymore questions"

They headed their own way and we slowly walked back to our house.

"I never thought anyone would end up with that guy"

"Yes I know, he's around 150 year old"

"What I do not understand is that why do they go around mugging people for fun"

"I don't think anyone can answer that question"

"Either way, only 3 days left"

"Only 3 days? It'll seem like an eternity"

"You are too sweet"

"I can never be too sweet to the woman I love. C'mon, let's get back to the house"

The next couple of days were the same old thing I have come to know, not so much love.

I woke up and it was the day, of course, I woke up like any other day.

Me-"Uhmmm. What time is it 9, I have about 2 hours"

After all the time it took semi-straightening my hair, putting it up, and getting everything on, it was about time for me to head over. I, to my amazement, was not really nervous. I mean, what was there to be nervous about? I wish it was just the guy marrying us, Itachi and I, but we had to invite someone to watch. So we invited a few friends, more like the annoying acquaintances we have to work with, some of them are cool, I suppose I could consider a few of them my friends. I will not bore you with the details of the service, who has not been to a wedding before?

I got up fairly early the next day, so I went downstairs to make some breakfast.

"Hey sexiness, what're you doing up so early?"

"We have a mission today remember"

"No way, we never have missions. I didn't even hear you get up"

"I shimmered down here for a reason"

"Alright, we'll get ready and head out"

"We can wait a while though"

I walked back over to the living room and onto the couch. He sat beside me and put his arm around my shoulder. He came over and kissed me passionately, slipping his tongue into my mouth. He placed his hands on my back, pulling me closer to him. I reached up to his face, ran my fingers through the pieces of his hair, down his neck onto his chest.

"We really should be going now"

We were on our way to the Cloud village for a few key documents in our plan. We simply set off straight from the Rain village off down the main road to the Cloud. The rain was going onwards for miles, if you looked up at the sky, it looked the same dull gray it always did. If I were any other person, it would be depressing, yet I somewhat enjoyed it and with a hat on, you barely noticed it. A few miles out from the village, I felt someone following us.

"You feel that?"

"Definitely at least 2, wait 3"

You can all come out now, you are not hiding well enough"

"I thought we were doing a pretty good job, we've been following you for miles now", Naoki said as she came out from behind one of the trees.

"No you were not, you followed us for 2 minutes now"

"You're too good for your own good"

"I get that sometimes, now what do you want?"

"You know right well what we want, the same thing we've been wanting for a while now"

"Well we have our own job, so let us just part ways and let it be"

"I don't think so"

She pulled out a few shuriken from her pouch. I looked at her with a cold stare and started my speed up again. She tried throwing massive amounts of shuriken at me, while I was distracting her from Itachi. All of a sudden, I stopped dead in my tracks.

"A shadow binding, that will not work well"

"It will for long enough to find another strategy to defeat you", as I finally figured out who was speaking, Shikamaru.

"Last time was just a taste of my power, a fraction"

"Naoki, give me enough time to think this through"

"Right"

She came in really close range of me and I was stuck where I stood. Itachi came out from the vegetation and knocked her back. I broke free from the shadow binding and jumped into the forest. I found the last one of their team, Kakashi.

"You thought you could just stay here and not join in the fun?"

"I should've know you wouldn't fall for that"

"Exactly"

I charged a Rasengan and threw him back onto the main path where the others were.

"Two on Three? I believe we can handle this easily"

I reached for my katana and rushed towards him, but right before I made contact, I shimmered over to Shikamaru and hit him with the hilt of my sword.

"I am going to finish this quickly, Itachi?"

"Go ahead"

"Konoha Ryuu: Kami Chisoku (Leaf Style: God Speed)"

This jutsu makes the world around you seem like it is going in slow motion, even more so than normal with me, around 100x more. I went over to Shikamaru, tying him to a tree. I ran over to Kakashi, who had no time to react, and stabbed him right through the stomach.

"KAKASHI!!!!"

"I have not forgotten about you, Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes"

That would immobilize her there for quite a while, but that was not all of them. Suddenly numerous kunai with exploding tags came out from the trees.

"Oh who now"

"Raiton Chidori: Kirin"

"Oh no…"

That jutsu must have been nearly unavoidable, even with my speed I could not move faster than the speed of lightning. It shocked me straight in the back and paralyzed my chakra network as I fell onto my knees.

"One of the most powerful forms of Chidori"

"You will not just leave after that"

I staggered to my feet, it seems that my nervous system was affected too. To top things off, that shot opened my stomach wound too.

"One last one, Raiton Chidori: Kirin"

There is nothing I can do against that

"Mangekyo Ninpo: Susanoo"

Some sort of skeletal form appeared in front of me and blocked the electric current.

"Are you alright"

"Yes I am, what the heck was that?"

"A new Mangekyo jutsu, you like it?"

"It is awesome"

"We really need to get out of here"

"No I have to finish this"

"It would be better for your health if we leave"

"Alright fine, Kaze Ninpo: Infinite Darkness jutsu"

He picked me up by my back and legs and started off in an opposite direction. When we were a few miles away he set me down on a rock.

"Look I know it's not what you wanted, but it's much easier to just keep going without dealing with them and what did I tell you about your wound?"

"It is nothing…it is really far on the right, no damage there. Besides, I will heal fairly fast. So let us get this mission started"


	11. Chapter 10: A Mission Once Again

We gathered some things from the house and then headed off to the Lightning country. I had heard a commotion over in the wastelands in the west end of the fire country. Hidan and Kakuzu were supposed to be going through there during their mission and to the bounty checkpoint. I diverged from the path we were on and Itachi curiously followed. I had jumped for a minute or two and stopped quickly on one of the dead trees.

"So are we going to help them?"

"We? I couldn't care less about what happens to them. Let them take care of their own problems"

"Well I will help them out if they need it"

"They are going to need it very soon. It seems like they have been fighting for a while with the group from Konoha"

"Wait just a minute, I need an opening"

Hidan was nowhere to be seen and Kakuzu was fighting with Kakashi. Ino and Chouji were just standing there and I figured Shikamaru was with Hidan. I decided to jump in when Kakuzu fell to the ground after trying to take Kakashi's heart for his own.

"Mariah!"

I jumped through the tree and knocked Kakashi back over to his team.

"I didn't…need your help"

"Sure you did not. I will help though"

"Get out of here I can handle this myself"

"With reinforcements coming? I doubt that, so where is Hidan?"

"Somewhere in the forest…I think this is his fault"

"I can figure it out, give me a minute, just get your lazy butt up"

"What makes you the boss of me?"

I grabbed his neck and pulled him up to my eyelevel.

"You want to go over this again?"

"No…I'm fine"

"Good come on. You get the genin and I will handle Kakashi"

"We're not genin!"

"Ya I'm good with that"

I appeared over by Kakashi, grabbing him by the back of the neck and sending him into one of the nearby rocks.

"If that's the way you want to do this, c'mon"

He dashed off up one of the many trees and I caught onto what he was doing. Trying to separate us, I do not need Kakuzu's help with this. I quickly caught up with him and had a perfect opening.

"Kaze Ninpo: Savage Razor Wind"

I shot the air straight towards him, cutting all through his upper body like tissue paper.

"Oh come on, you can do better than this"

"I can, I'm just distracting you"

"Wha…Oh no"

I immediately turned around, but I did not have enough time to dodge it.

"Gufuu Suika no Jutsu: Water Typhoon Vortex"

The water technique I held ground against for a few seconds then could not keep it up. I went flying back to the original site, where Kakuzu was.

"Ugh my hand…What the hell was that…did he get it already…?"

"Looks like you can't handle it huh?", Kakuzu said as he walked over me.

"Say one more word and you are going to be the next one getting shot out of here bleeding to death"

"Oh really? Well by all means go ahead"

"Fine"

I got up off the ground and ran towards him. I grabbed my katana and channeled fire chakra into it.

"Bring it on Kakuzu! Fuuton: Kami Oroshi, Divine Mountain Wind"

It combined with the fire on the sword creating a powerful blaze that hit him directly.

"You realize you cannot beat me"

"Oh really?"

All of a sudden I felt something wrap around my ankle, it was his tentacles. I dug my hands into the ground and grabbed my katana again. I swung it at them but they would not budge. They pulled me up off the ground and above most of the trees.

"You are going to die for this!"

I leaned up and grabbed them with both hands, channeling my Jinchuuriki chakra into them. It traveled through the tentacles and up into his body, forcing him to let me go. I landed back on the ground and turned towards the Konoha crew again.

"Sorry about that, we do not get along sometimes"

"Sis please just leave now"

"I have somewhat of a commitment to this annoying thing over here, and you should leave before someone else shows up to come for you"

"So we agree to just stay here"

"Seems that way"

"Then I'm going to show you how I can handle you now!"

He poofed up 3 shadow clones and two of them helped him start a rasengan.

"Normal Rasengan will not do much against me"

"Just wait"

Suddenly I heard that familiar screeching noise, he had done it!?

"I am not going to be beaten by a variation on my own jutsu"

Naruto-"Fuuton Rasen-Shuriken, Wind style Spiraling Shuriken"

"Fuuton Rasenyari Shuriken!"

I charged mine and ran as fast as I could towards him

"Everyone move"

"Too late for that now!"

We both made contact with each other's Rasen-Shuriken variations and they were trapped between us, not detonating. Random waves of wind chakra would hit anything and everything like razor blades. We both got the brunt of it and they were almost equal. He was using up all of his usual chakra reserves and started taping into the bijuu's. He had the veil and his Rasen-Shuriken had a different color now, scarlet.

"How has it come to this"

"I've been training a long time"

"I will end this before it goes too far"

I charged another Rasenyari-Shuriken in my free hand and had them both against his. This overpowered his and caused a tremendous chakra explosion and the screeching intensified. Both of my Rasen-Shuriken detonated, enveloping us both in the blast and catching random hits on everyone around us. Most of the small wind chakra needles were dissipated by our chakra veils but some still managed to hit. Finally it vanished and I stumbled backwards and the veil disappeared. All of a sudden I felt someone catch me.

"I was just fine without you, Itachi, I am almost finished"

"You're right, you are almost finished"

"I can still do this"

I staggered onto my feet and stepped forward.

"I did not even get most of the damage from it anyway"

Naruto was laying on the ground a few hundred feet from where we were originally standing.

"Now does anyone else want to feel the full force of my attack, without any extra protection from chakra?"

They had all gotten some of the needles within their own bodies.

"Now that is what I am talking about"

I walked over to Naruto and offered him a hand.

"Naruto, you almost have it, just keep working at it"

"I learned from the best"

Everyone was looking at us like we were crazy.

"We are heading out you two"

"What about Hidan?"

"Forget him, he will show up eventually"

"C'mon, we need to get going already"

I motioned a short goodbye from the rest of the Konoha crew and shimmered the three of us out and back onto the path. We were hopping from tree to tree, towards the Mist village. I was starting to slow down from the injuries along the front of my body. My legs were especially encumbered, they had gotten the major blow. Neither Itachi, nor Kakuzu had noticed my slow pace since we started, until I tripped on one of the branches. I never trip when we are running through the trees, yet I had started a quick decent. Itachi immediately noticed, and repelling off of one of the nearby trees, caught me in mid air and set me back down on my feet.

"Oh thanks…"

"Do you want us to stop and wait here?"

"No no I am fine"

I walked back up the tree and hopped about a yard or two before falling off of such a flat tree, it was embarrassing. I leaned up against the tree and slowly slid down. My legs just could not take such a strain when they were so recently injured. I was very reluctant to let them help or stop on my account. I used the tree for stabilization and got up one last time on my feet. I contemplated just shimmering myself over, but that would defeat the purpose since we were just a few miles from the village. I started on the peregrination to the village, yet I had a misstep once again, this time they were both following me diligently. Itachi placed one hand on my back, slipped my feet from under me, and just started carrying me instead. His opinion apparently superseded mine for such a decision. They both took off to the Village Hidden in the Clouds. It was an insanely easy mission, we just headed to the Cloud and retrieve some information from them. Apparently we were not the only team assigned to this mission, we ran into practically everyone on the way there. Deidara, Sasori, Hidan, and Zetsu, since I guess he counts as two people.

"Why did we all bother coming, it is not a difficult assignment. We are not even supposed to capture the Jinchuuriki"

"Maybe Pein's just off his f***ing rocker"

"Or there is something else to this mission that he did not tell us about…"

* * *

Ok I might be limited to about two chapters a week, I have a history term paper due soon and I'm gone for half of the night. I'll try to keep going as fast as I can though, thx for the patronage


	12. Chapter 11: Awaken the Demon

"Well, we will just go into the village and see what happens"

Heading off into the village as a group was probably our first mistake. The mission entailed gaining some important blueprints of the village. The only place we would find such a thing was in Raikage's office building. How we were going to get in there without suspicion was going to be a difficult task, we had quite a few people to keep track of. Getting through the village was not the hard part, getting into the main building was a bit difficult.

"Alright, I am going to need you all to-"

"Who the f*ck gave you authority to tell us what to do. We're all sent here on separate groups"

"Fine, take off if you want to. I am going this way"

I stepped one foot on the stairs going up to the building and there was an odd looking fellow standing there at the head of the stairs. He had sunglasses on and seven swords out his back. He had a tattoo of 'iron' on his right arm and what I can figure to be bull horns on his cheek.

"We are just passing through, to see Lord Raikage", I said very lightly as I kept up the stairs.

"Just passing through? You're trippin'! Don't play games with me, because you'll soon see!"

"We do not have time for this sort of thing, who are you anyway?"

"My name's killer bee, brother of the Raikage three, best jinchuuriki there will ever be"

"Oh I disagree, let us start this fighting spree"

"Nice rhyming free, now watch how deadly I can be!"

He grabbed two swords off his back and lunged straight towards us. He was quite fast for someone of his stature, but I easily dodged, I cannot quite say the same for the rest. Attempting to humor him with rhyming back to him was getting old. I pulled off a rasengan behind my back, lunging at him, simply clanging his two swords. He pulled them across each other, slicing the rasengan in half.

"When you've got power to spare, you shine, you glare. The eight-tails is the quintessential Killer Bee! The fight has begun and you're gunna get owned, but before we turn this mother-"

I knocked one of the katanas from his hand and blocked his own strike with mine. I am really feeling the love from all of the others who are just standing and watching really.

"Why're you after the me anyway?"

"We are not, you just happen to be in the way"

I shimmered up behind him and held the blade to his neck. He pushed back with the hilt of his sword. I pulled my katana to the ground and jumped above him, hitting the ground and pushed a rasengan through his stomach. He was thrown back a few feet, but still on his own two legs. He pulled out a small notepad and started jotting down something.

"That was pretty good, I thought up a good rhyme, thanks. As a payment, I'll let you play with me. Though you're an idiot baby"

He unsheathed all the rest of his swords, holding them in his mouth, arms, and legs. He was no average shinobi. He jumped and tucked into a double reverse somersault, with blades coming from every direction. I jumped far enough from his strike zone, but still got a few cuts and scrapes. He threw up the blades, grabbing them all in his hands, throwing a few my direction. I grabbed my katana and blocked them all.

"I'm the eight tails, I sting like a bee!"

One of the katanas came ripping through my stomach from behind, I could see the red tinted blade half way out of me. That is when I noticed something, there were only six swords on the ground, that was where the one I had pushed into the ground was, dripping with my blood. He avulsed it straight out pulling it down into my right arm. He barely missed the artery, but it still hurt. I grabbed the sword and flung him across the stairs.

"Am I going to get any help, or am I going to have to do this on my own"

"We were all sent on different missions, you can handle this"

"Fine, this will show you"

I turned back to Killer Bee, I still did not have a real feasible plan.

"Alright it's time for number eight to hit the stage!"

He placed his hands together and raised them to the sky. The chakra of the demon was coming out, and it was coming out fast. He had a good number of tails when he lunged forth at me with a faster pace than earlier. I blocked his attack with my katana, but it would not hold up for long. I decided I might as well just attempt to face him hand on hand. I shut my eyes and focused, reopening them to a dark hallway, covered from floor to ceiling with ice. There was a frozen wind blowing through the hallway. I calmly walked down it, until pausing at a giant gate.

"Alright, how would you like to get some excitement and exercise?"

"_**Really, you are going to use me. Are you in a bit of trouble out there?"**_

"Look, it is a simple yes or no"

"_**Tell me exactly what you are facing out there, and I will decide"**_

"The hachibi if you really need to know"

"_**Really? Well then, let us get going. I do not want to keep them long"**_

I felt a cold wave of chakra flow from my feet, up to the tip of my head. Awakening again, the veil had completely engulfed my whole body. I easily pushed him back from the sword and turned to him.

"It is more of a fair fight this way"

"Wow I can't believe my eyes, such a demon in a pretty disguise, a wonderful surprise. But it's time for your demise, say your goodbyes!"

"Do not count on that just yet"

* * *

I will definitely try to write some more in the next few days, but with finals and all, it may be next week that we get anything for these chapters. Killer Bee is an odd character...to say the least. Read the new chapter today, poor Yahiko, poor Pain, all the death he's witnessed. Anyway! Hope you all have a good weekend!


	13. Chapter 12: Out of Control

Killer Bee and I were standing a few yards away from the same staircase that I had just gone up. The rest of the gang were off in the building and would be out shortly, I would have to take this here and now or I was going to get into some trouble.

"This is one of the first times someone has pushed me to do this, I hope you are ready for what is going to come next"

"Don't worry about me baby, we've just started this jubilee"

He threw two of the swords at me, that I dodged easily. I glided onto a nearby tree and heard a strange cracking noise as the trees around were getting cut off by a nearly invisible chakra string attached to the swords. I jumped to avoid them, but one bound my ankle and dragged me down to the ground.

"Fuuton: Kami Oroshi, Divine Mountain Wind"

Before my attack could connect, he reverse somersaulted and canceled it out with the friction he created. After going straight through my attack, he came towards me with sharp katanas sticking out everywhere. I jumped back, and getting down on all fours, circling him with my speed.

"Kaze Ninpo: Kaze Ya Danmaku, Wind Arrow Barrage"

Few arrows connected with his flesh, but it did annoy him enough to make himself six tails. I shimmered in front of him, casting my eyes before his.

"Demonic Illusion: Fuhen no Moegara, eternal embers"

This jutsu makes the victim perceive as if each of their nerve cells were being overtaken by flames. It is an agonizing Genjutsu, but not my best. I figured it would be a long fight and I needed to conserve the big stuff for later. I got but a few minutes of that until he broke through it, charging straight for me. My recovery time for Genjutsus is next to nothing, but he still got me a few times with his katana. They were nothing serious, just quite painful to move around with. The more pain that becomes inflicted upon me and the greater the desire to prevail, the more my blood thirst rages. The chakra was pulsing through my body, slowly trying to take over, my will was not blocking it with enough force. I held it back for as long as I could, but pain made the dragon flourish and its chakra was changing me. I had never gone two tails before, I had no idea of what would happen, but I was just about to find out. The skin on the dorsal sides of my arms became covered in white scales leading up to my back, where two pale blue and white scaled wings emerged. Where my legs had taken the transformation also lead up where a spiked tail came through. My control over my own actions were dissipating, soon I would not be able to influence it at all. I jumped at him, claws extended. Killer Bee, looking a bit frustrated, went in and grabbed my wrist. The frozen scales immediately burned his hand as he let go. I jumped into the sky as he continued to throw his katanas at me. Dodging them easily, I came straight down on him with a Rasengan. He went to blow it with his katanas, but this time, I went right through them, shattering them in an instant. The guys were coming back with the plans, so I would have to finish this quickly. He paused and was gathering more chakra as I leapt towards him with a Jinchuuriki Rasenyari. It ripped through him like he was paper, sending him cleanly through twelve or so trees. I turned to the group of people heading down the stairs. I could not differentiate anyone, so I went running towards them. I caught one of them as I rolled with them across the stairs and through a tree. I clawed them shallowly across the chest and arm, until repelling off of a tree back through the group again. This time I had gotten to two of them and was burning them severely with my hands and tail. Charging a Rasenyari and sending it toward the rest of them, leaving only one left. I ran at him now, but in lunging, he easily dodged it.

"Mariah c'mon it's me Itachi, you have to control this, don't let it control you"

Did he not notice that I was trying to control it, the demon was just too powerful to push back on a whim. I let out a cry and focused back for just a second before it took over again. I ran towards him again, he was going to make me chase him. He should have known that he could not out run me. He was trying to buy time for the others to recover. He lead me between some trees and I felt my hands and feet being tied together as I fell to the ground. I growled for a second, releasing a wave of chakra that incinerated the strings. Getting up once more, I ran towards the center of the strings, but before I got to him, someone else tackled me to the ground. I struggled under them as their skin was burning to the touch of the chakra. I bit them on the arm and they immediately let go as I charged over them. I was after the taller one, as I rammed into him with a Rasengan in my hand.

"_Bijuu Kaihou Tatsumaki, Jinchuuriki Chakra Whirlwind Tornado"_

I released the chakra, sending each and every one of them into a different direction and away from me. When they finally got back up and congregated together, I started running towards them again. I lunged at them, but regained control at the last second and reverted back to myself through both levels, as I skidded to a halt just inches in front of them. I was still conscious, but barely. They all just stood there in awe, as my breathing slowly faded back to its normal rhythm. I was able to push myself up a few inches off the ground, but my strength gave out and my arms buckled, letting me fall back to the ground.

"What the f*ck was that!? You seriously hurt us!"

I did not have the strength to respond, I could barely keep myself conscious and I did not need their useless comments. If they wanted a real answer, I would have to talk to them later. I motioned in the direction of Killer Bee and they got the message to just take him even if we were not supposed to do that on this mission. I was pretty much out of commission now, I could not get off the ground. They speculated for a while until Itachi finally just slipped his arms under my legs and back, lifting me cautiously off the ground.

"Are you alright"

"If I look alright then I am, but I think it to be no"

"I'll get you some medical attention. What happened here anyway"

"I do not really know, I could not beat him on my own, so I guess I just fell to the demon. I am so sorry, I did not mean to hurt you, any of you"

"Don't worry about it, for now let's just get back to the village. Do you have enough strength to shimmer us there?"

"Strength no, but I can if you need me to"

I got us there, with no issues, but I really needed to just lie down somewhere and heal myself. We would have a few days to start the extraction, he was down for the count.


	14. Chapter 13: The Morning After

When we finally got to our house, he lay me down softly on the couch. I knew they would not wait long, but I needed at least a few hours. I dragged myself into the bathroom and into a steaming shower. I was washing away the excess blood, but it also stung on the open wounds. I had a really rough looking gouge in my stomach, cleanly through but a diagonal slice. I had five or more scrapes on my arms and legs. When I had gotten most of the blood off, I got out, dried off and started rummaging through the cabinet to find some cloth. I cauterized and wrapped the wounds, making my body feel much better.

"Hey Rai, are you alright?"

"Ya, I am fine. Not fine enough since I am going to have to face all of them in one place"

"They're not going to do anything to you"

"You are right, but still, I have no idea what happened back there. I always thought I could handle it, I guess I was wrong"

"It was the first time you had ever done that. Stop beating yourself up for it"

"I will not be the one beating me up"

"C'mon let's get going"

When getting to the extraction area, there was an eerie silence strung about the room. Even an hour or two into it, still nobody was talking.

"Are you guys really going to avoid me for three days?"

"I didn't realize you could still talk in a human voice"

"I thought demonic savages couldn't even feel human emotions"

"I do not have to take this from you, I am out of here"

I broke from the jutsu and hopped off of the platform.

"Mariah, you know we can't do this easily without you", Pein finally said.

"Well I think you could live without the demon's help"

"Why don't you tell me what happened, we can work this out"

"Just get those bastards to tell you"

"Can anyone tell me what happened on the mission that has created so much tension?"

After getting the story, he pondered for a second, until finally saying something again.

"Mariah, you just need to stop taking all of these things so personally, try to be empathetic with them and them to you. And all of you, just be thankful that power isn't against you. We all just need to understand each other better. Now Mariah, please come and help"

"As long as they say nothing more on the subject, I will help out. I suppose I have some obligation here"

"I still don't know why you all cannot just get along and stop this useless bickering"

"It is just something you will never understand Pein"

"I don't think it's something that you understand either"

"I do not understand, elaborate for me"

"All I am saying is that you are not the least spontaneous and rash of the group, maybe you say things without running the consequences to your actions"

"I still understand the need for self-expression, so I understand our need to try to push each other down in our own minds, to make ourselves seem more than we are. It is a basic human function and does not need real explanation, it just is"

"Still, there is no need for it right now"

"Well what do you want us to do? We have to stall for three days as we just wait really, for something to go wrong"

"I expect quiet, or at least conversation that intrigues the mind. Otherwise it's just useless arguments once more"

"Then quiet I suppose it is"

They could not come up with much of anything that would seem to be intelligent or intriguing to the mind, so we were just standing there in silence with the light sounds of pattering rain on the ceiling. I had decided to give my legs a reprieve from standing, so I was meditating with my eyes closed shut on the ground.

"Where the f*ck are the other members anyway? It's not fair that we have to do all the work around here"

"If you are referring to Tobi, Skai, and Zetsu, they are probably at their respective houses, relishing the fact that they do not have to be here"

"Enlightened with the actions of yesterday, are you all still on good terms?"

"Pein, contrary to what you think, we actually are not all enemies here"

"Speak for yourself"

"Hidan, do you really want to get on my bad side after what you witnessed yesterday?"

"Fine I'll shut the f*ck up"

"So Pein, how many are left now, three four?"

"The latter, not including you"

"I thought we never included me"

"We aren't, I'm just clarifying for the rest"

"A few left in the Leaf, and one in the mist, probably one left I presume?"

"Correct, who wants to job?"

"Since we are so close, why do we not let Skai take this next one?"

"You're just doing this so you don't have to do it yourself, am I correct?"

"Even so, I do believe she can handle another mission"

"Fine, but you're responsible for taking out the mark if she doesn't succeed"

"Oh I would not worry about that one. I will go tell her the good news"

We finished up within the next hour or so. I walked over to Skai's house to deliver the good news, she had been saying how seldom she receives such missions, she would be happy at this. I knocked on her door and she came out soon thereafter. She lived close by, much like everyone else.

"Hello Skai, I have some new I think you would find quite pleasurable"

"What are you getting at?"

"I got you a mission, a jinchuuriki hunting mission"

"Now how did you manage that?"

"Let me just say, I did not want it for myself, so I share the wealth with you"

"As long as I have the mission, I suppose I should thank you"

"Do not think I did it for you, I just wanted to have a day or two off"

"I'll be seeing you then"

"Yes, see you around"

With that, I went back to my house to enjoy my few days off.

* * *

It seems since it's summer, I will start writing more. If I feel the need to, I may upload more than one chapter a day and avoid uploading on certain days. These chapters will be equally distributed through the fics, alright maybe not completely equally, I will actually start uploading bits and pieces of Shades of Night, but it may take until I finish more of what I have on these now. Keep up the good reading and I hope you enjoyed this small token of my gratitude, many more chapters.


	15. Chapter 14: The Strange Happenings

After the few days that we did get off, Pein was not too keen on us not doing anything for a week. He gave us cushy missions, the easiest stuff we have had in a long time. A few days went by and we had completed our short mission. I had been feeling strange our whole trip, eating more frequently and walking much slower than usual. I knew exactly what was wrong, but I was holding out on him, hoping he would get it without me having to tell him.

"Mariah, we really are never going to get there if we keep up this pace"

"Yes I know, just one more break. It will only take one minute"

"Again? Wait…"

"Are you getting it yet?"

"So you…"

"The last town we were in, I took the liberty of getting into a clinic"

"You're pregnant…"

I looked down, placing my hand on my stomach. He smiled a bit at me, placing his own hands on mine and gave me a light kiss on the cheek.

"Would you like me to help you?"

"Well…I guess so", I said rather uncomfortably, I never liked taking help.

He pulled my legs from under me and carried me, probably going four times faster than we were just a few minutes ago.

"I really was holding us back"

"Don't worry about it"

He got me back to the village and he set me down on the couch, sitting and staying right next to me.

"Do you need anything?"

"Nothing except for you to stop treating me differently, I'm still me"

"Hardly, you just used a contraction"

"I…well…"

"Don't worry about it"

"It's just temporary, like my mom with my younger siblings"

"No offence, but your mother was crazy then"

"Can you promise me you'll just ignore me if I change?"

"Of course, it's not me you have to worry about, the others are the ones who you need to worry about"

"Now just…excuse me for a minute!"

I ran to the bathroom and threw up my entire stomach, this was going to be a fun nine months.

A few months past, I was becoming less than normal. Something about me just was not quite right. The way I talked, the way I acted. I had extreme mood swings, excessive hunger, and I was very irritable or just the opposite. We were called over to Pein's house and that was usually a meeting of some sort for something really irrelevant. I really woke up on the wrong side of the bed that morning, fixed on starting a fight or at least giving out some serious pain. I slammed open the door, as it nearly fell off its hinges.

"Alright what the hell is this for!?"

"Welcome Mariah, nice to see you again"

"Someone's having a bad day, hmm?"

"Shut up or I'll shut you up myself Deidara"

Pein coughed a few times for our attention before starting, "So we're here to discuss-"

"And what gives you the right to just call us over here whenever you want to and waste our time with this useless crap?"

"The fact that I'm the prevalent leader of this group's actions"

"What makes you think you're better than anyone else here?"

"Nothing, I just took the title"

"Well screw that, we're all just as qualified to be leader as you are, we should have someone else"

"Are you challenging me? Oh right, I'm not going to fight you, you are not yourself"

"Who gives a damn, c'mon"

I motioned with my hands before I flipped him over my shoulder and onto one of the tables. I charged a Rasengan and aimed it straight at him.

"Rai c'mon stop"

I almost turned around and hit him with it instead, but my body immediately recognized who it was and let it fade away. I collapsed onto my knees and just started bawling.

"I'm so sorry, Pein are you ok!?"

"I'm just fine"

"No you're not, you're lying to me to make me feel better"

I walked up to him and gave him a constricting hug. He is a pretty good friend for putting up with this.

"Sure, just let go, nobody touches me like this"

"You're so caring"

"Get off!"

"Ok I think Pein gets the idea", Itachi said as he tried to pull me off of him.

"Do you need a hug too?"

I turned around and hugged him too.

"Oh…ok…"

"How much longer will this go on Itachi", Pein said rather annoyed or creeped out.

"Another few months at least"

"How the hell are we going to live with this for a few more months?"

"You…you don't like me anymore Pein…", I started whimpering and crying once more.

"No that's not it, you're just different right now"

"Different how? Are you saying that I'm not the same as I was earlier, are you calling me old!?", said as I charged over to him and grabbed his shirt. "I don't enjoy those kinds of comments, especially from people like you"

"Would someone help me out here?"

Nobody answer, dared to talk actually, they just sat there trying not to piss me off.

"Do not just jump to conclusions, I didn't say any of that"

"No but you're thinking it. I'm younger than you, you have no right to call me old!"

"Mariah just calm down"

"I'm calm, I'm calmed"

I let go and fully grinned at him, which I think scared him a bit in and of itself.

"Oh forget it, everyone just go, I know nobody want to be here"

We headed home after that, I did not want to, but Itachi said it was best.

* * *

I have almost gotten to the end of the part that I had written in a rough draft form, that basically translates into this fic will be very slow to come out after the next two chapters. I will try my hardest to get it done, but I have not been bludgeoned over the head with the gauntlet of inspiration for a long time now for this one. Try as I may, the other two will inevitably be more of a priority than adding to this one and I'm sorry for the people who want to see more on this, ideas are greatly appreciated though...but never readily available...well have a nice day everyone.


	16. Chapter 15: The Return of a Friend

We got home from our meeting and I felt another mood swing come on when we sat down on the couch.

"Hey Itachi, we're all alone now, you want to have some fun?"

"Remember what you told me earlier, I'm going to keep my promise"

"Oh please Itachi, I'm right here, all yours"

I lay on his lap and started rubbing his chest, nuzzling his neck lovingly. I could tell he was fighting this.

"No, no I'm not going to do this"

"But Itachiii"

"No I promised you I would ignore these kinds of things, see this?", he placed his hand on my stomach and started rubbing tenderly. "It means no"

"I know…sorry about that. I don't like that mood right now"

"You could keep it for afterwards"

Pein was slowly pulling all of our missions, we were just hanging around the village again for no particular reason. Pein was being a lot more understanding of my random moods. I finally got some control over my mood swings though and had not gotten morning sickness in two months, a very happy day indeed. I was getting rounder and rounder by the day, I could not close my cloak anymore, it was a bit small in that area. Not getting any missions and lying around the house all day was quite boring. When other people get bored, they congregate at our house, I have no idea why. Deidara, Hidan, Zetsu, basically everyone was there but Pein. Then, what do you know, he rang the doorbell and came on in. Woah guess who is with him this time.

"You all remember Konan do you not"

"Yes I remember you vaguely, where the hell have you been for a few years!?"

"Oh you know, missions abroad"

"Can I see you in the kitchen for one second"

"Oh sure"

I grabbed her hand and dragged her into the kitchen with me, shutting the door behind us.

"What the hell? I want missions abroad for years!"

"Sorry, I didn't know you would care that much. You can't go on those missions right now anyway, you're a little tied down at the moment"

"Ignore that, you left me to be like basically the only girl here!"

"You seemed to have taken it well though"

"So? You don't know what it's like to live with all of these people for years!?"

"Well I have to say, some of them are a little…"

"Exactly, I'm stuck with them"

"Ok fine, I'm sorry. We can hang out more if you want"

"How about right now? Just ditch them all just for an hour or so"

"If you're up to it, then sure"

"Cool"

I grabbed her hand and shimmered her out without even opening the kitchen door.

"So you want to go and…um…"

"We haven't done this in a while huh"

"Want to go to the movies?"

"Sure, and we could go see one of those romance movies"

"You couldn't drag the guys to those"

We walked over to the movie theatre. We watched some movie we randomly picked out. It was a romance movie and extremely cute. We got some popcorn, candy and drinks and sat down. It was a great movie and nobody wanted to sit next to us, probably because of our cloaks again. We walked back out of the theatre, people still avoiding us.

"So where to now?"

"Maybe we should head back"

"I doubt they noticed we were gone"

We walked through the front door and they all looked surprised.

"I guess I was wrong"

"I thought you were in the f***ing kitchen!?"

"We left a while ago"

"Yes and saw a movie"

"Alright Sasori, five bucks"

"Damn it"

"You actually bet whether or not we were in the kitchen"

"Whatever it takes to make a few bucks"

"That's great…so what did you guys do while we were gone?"

"We talked…"

"About?"

" Guy stuff"

"You guys are so helpful. If you don't want to stay for dinner, I suggest you leave sometime soon"

They all slowly got up and out the door.

"So you went and watched a movie with Konan? What just reminiscing or something?"

"Or something"

"I get it, you don't want to tell me"

"It's just girl stuff"

"Then I don't want to hear about it"

"So…did you think of any names?"

"Well considering your ideas, Kaisei if it's a boy, Kaori if it's a girl"

"We're keen on a k name this time huh?"

"Well I took your ideas into consideration"

"Ok, then we'll go with those then"

* * *

Now this really will probably be it for this one for a while now, it's all I had for a rough draft and ideas are slim pickings around my place. So I will try to think of more happenings, but if nothing comes to me, well then nothing comes to me. The Gauntlet has not been thrown at me recently, but it will be kinda soon hopefully. I'm just rambling on now, so I guess that's all I have to say, see ya later!


	17. Chapter 16: Impulsive Ambition

Within the month, I finally had my baby boy, Kaisei. He had black ruffled hair, with bright blue eyes. He was a quiet child, who never really cried much except when he was hungry. I was finally acting normal once we got back to the house with him. We would not let anyone in the house for a couple of weeks. When we finally did start letting people come in, all they wanted to do was hold him and I was not very willing to let him leave my arms. I finally handed him to Konan and he got passed around and everyone acted very different from usual, they all seemed to take a shine to him. He did not even cry when uncle Zetsu was holding him. I was a bit anxious to get him back, but felt better when Itachi scooped him up from Deidara's arms.

"Alright that is enough, you all have been here for hours, you can go home"

"You can always call me if you need a babysitter", Konan said walking back over to him.

"I would be careful, I might take you up on that offer"

"You can call me whenever you want"

"Do not worry, I will"

After a while, things were getting more tense at the complex. Pein still had not decided how we would approach our next goal. He was holding a meeting that day, to discuss future plans. I sat at my respective space, thinking deeply on how to confront him with my plan of action. When everyone got there, we got right to business.

"That's why I will be going to the Leaf, accompanied by just Konan, to gather two of the remaining three jinchuuriki"

I jumped right in there, not letting him get another word in. "Pein I harshly disagree, let me go instead, I can get it done much faster and with more of a surgical move than you"

"But you also have an emotional attachment to this section of the job. I feel that you would not be able to overcome that to get the job done"

"Well then you highly underestimate me, I can handle this, just let me do it on my own"

"Completely on your own? Now you are just offering a suicide mission"

"You have to trust me Pein, they are my village-mates, let me do this"

"You are too much of a valuable asset for me to let you do something like this on your own, you at least have to take your partner"

I took a moment, looking around the table at the others who were just watching this scene play out. I stood up from the chair and placed both hands on the table.

"No Pein, I want this to be a solo mission. I have to be the one to do this"

"To do what, be responsible for the death of your brother and sister, eliminating any direct blood ties you had with someone in this world?"

"No just to finish correcting the mistake I made!"

"Mistake? No we are actually getting somewhere, go on"

"You think I am just going to open up like that, you are horribly wrong. The mistakes I have made are mine alone. I am going on this mission, alone, and you cannot do anything about it"

"I could send someone after you"

"Just try it, this is just something I have to do"

"Fine then, go for it. Just come back with a jinchuuriki"

"I will"

Right when I got to the house, I started getting my things together, I would leave in the morning. Of course Itachi came soon after, most likely questioning my judgment.

"I know exactly what you are going to say. Why do you want to do this alone? Why will I not let you come? Why is this so important to me?"

"No, I just think this is reckless, what you're doing. There is no logical reason for you to act like this, to be so ambitious with the job. I know that's how you are, but this doesn't seem like you at all"

"I know it does not, I just…cannot let someone else do this, and I have a bit of a plan"

"A plan? Is that what you've been working on for the past few weeks?"

"Yes and I am finally done"

"You're not going to betray Pein are you?"

"No, I just cannot let my decisions effect my siblings anymore. They do not deserve that, I am suppose to…Supposed to be protecting them", I choked up a bit on the last part, I could not keep some emotion from freely expressing itself.

"So that's it, you feel as if you betrayed your parents trust, and theirs.

"I am the eldest of the three, I am suppose to stop things like this from happening, not be the cause of it. Oh what does it matter anyway, I am just trying to look out for them the best I can with all of our current situations"

"And your plan includes?"

"The revival jutsu"

"You have actually perfected that?"

"Yes I have, and if I can pre-treat the one I decide to take, then I can activate it no problem, but there is a slight catch, I probably will be slightly paralyzed for a few weeks, I will not be able to do any missions for a while"

"The saddest part of this is that, they really don't understand what you do for them. How you work behind their back to help them out"

"I will never have the nerve to tell them, I do not need the credit anyway, I know someone who can see it", I said in passing, as I glanced longingly at a picture that was standing on the mantle. "Well I better keep getting the things together, or I will never be ready by tomorrow morning"

* * *

Sorry I've been out of it for a while...all sorts of things have been piling up on me, so I just now had the time to update stuff. OMG Kakashi Gaiden is now animated! Very happy that now the fourth hokage can have a voice in the vid games ^-^


	18. Chapter 17: Precautions for Tomorrow

Before I went to get into bed, I put on something a bit more, expendable and light. It was one of my many navy blue sleeveless shirts and some pants. I slid open the door to the backyard, crossing over the grass, over the fence, and into the grove that repelled the rain. I needed a place where no one would suspect I was doing anything, or notice what I was doing. I was planning to refine my jinchuuriki style of fighting, and needed a bit of practice in an open environment that I could destroy a bit. I took a deep breath, slowly releasing the chakra. When a ring formed around my feet, my hair blowing in its wake, I started in a more realistic environment. I took off in the opposite direction of the buildings, casually repelling from tree to tree, pretending to be dodging blows and jutsus. One tailed I was still perfectly fine. I had to stop on a branch for a split second to fully activate two. I did not even wince as the wings and tail emerged. For the first minute or so, I was still fine, but then I felt the sudden interference and slight lack of consciousness. This was the moment I was waiting for, I entered the labyrinth of my mind.

"Now as for you, I am done being submissive to your will"

"_**How are you planning on restricting my power. You're nowhere skilled enough for that"**_

"Do not count on that"

I knew exactly what to do and could finish the job in a matter of seconds. I bit the end of my thumb, encouraging the blood to come forth to the surface. I ran straight through the bars of the seal, it must have thought that I had gone mad. I got to its left claw and forearm, drawing what seemed to be tribal markings to anyone who was not especially skilled in genjutsu. Even as it was thrashing about, I still got around each wing, over the tails, and placed the seal markings on the rest of the appendages. I ran straight up the back, streaking a straight line with my thumb all the way up. It had hit me numerous times already with, jutsus or some such, I did not bother noting it, I was too focused. I needed three lines up to the neck and jaw, one from each wing and the spine straight from where the tails met. I would not run out of blood here, it was not a true bodily fluid in the chambers of my mind, but it worked as a representation that still worked in the ceremony. It threw me off numerous times, but I knew it would not, could not kill me, so I pressed on. When I had finally finished the marking process, I looked directly into its eyes, placing my hands into a tiger seal and locked the ceremony. The markings glowed, then slowly faded away, sealing the dragon's control over me in two tailed state, at least for now. All I would have to do was activate the genjutsu to completely regain control and consciousness. It violently slung me through the bars and into the wall, jolting me back to reality. The tails slowly started to vanish, as I calmly meditated to restore my chakra. I would not need it in the future fight, but it would not hurt the simplicity of the mission. Neither of them would put up much of a fight, which should I take first?

* * *

I know I know, super short chapter, but no worries, I'll get another longer one done tomorrow! I just wanted to put something up tonight, so this is apparently all I did ^-^. Watched a whole marathon of 'Survivor Man' and have to say that it was a waste of a good four hours of my life. Well I hope you all are having a nice weekend! Hope to hear from you soon!


	19. Chapter 18: A Futile Advance

I slipped out of bed, as quietly as I could, not wanting to wake up the other two in the house. Looking over at the clock while I was changing, it must have been 5 or 6. If I left right away, I could probably get there by 8. I did not take the main roads, which surprisingly made the whole trip faster. One person was obviously following me, but I did not confront them since they were just there for me even though I insisted on a solo mission, I suppose, yet I could not figure out whose chakra it was, it did not matter. My focus was upon the target, nothing else. I knew exactly where she would be and how to catch her alone.

"Hello Naoki"

"Mariah? As if I wasn't expecting this"

"It has been long enough, you know what I am here for"

"Of course, but don't expect this to be easy, I'm a Jounin now, remember"

"It does not matter what rank you are, I can beat you"

"Then bring it on, or are you going to call your fellow members to help?"

"It is just me today"

"I like those odds then, Kuwashii Chidori"

A chidori was centered in her hand, but large arcs were enveloping the field. I was smart enough to avoid each strike, but the jutsu was versatile, yet before she was able to change it into another technique, I caught her within a particularly effective genjutsu against her.

"Demonic Illusion: Kanmuryou Dekisui Kansei, Deep Drowning Entrapment"

It creates in the targets mind a large class container, slowly filled to the brim with water. The target is unable to breathe and the effects can be very real. Because of the Phoenix, Naoki herself finds water very detestable. Her efforts to break though the glass were futile, yet she still was burning her breath on it. I released the jutsu before she actually did drown, since that would defeat the whole purpose of my mission. She awoke gasping for air, since her lungs really were filled with water. I casually walked over to her, grabbing her collar to pull her to my eye level.

"What was that you were saying about it not being easy?"

"It's not a good idea...to get to close"

Lightning was spreading across her whole body, causing me to let go suddenly or risk the consequences.

"Kyuukyokku Chidori Keiksonhoumetsu!", she said drawing her sword.

The movement of her sword caused the lightning surrounding her body to be funneled through it. If she caught me with that, she may have a chance. Long range attacks work just as well for me.

"Fuuton: Kaosu Teikiatsu Kaiten, Chaos Cyclone Revolution"

By simply rotating my hand in the air and releasing wind chakra, I was able to guide hurricane force winds around me three hundred and sixty degrees, causing her lightning tricks to be virtually useless.

"Kaze Ya Danmaku"

Using my arm as a bow and running it through the air, I created twenty or so jinchuuriki chakra arrows. If this hit, it would spell her inevitable defeat. I let the arrows fly, most of them deflected by her lightning barrier, but one lightly skimmed across her shoulder.

"You missed"

"Did I now?"

"Whatever you're planning is over now. Rajin Chidori"

She let all of the chakra she had stored out in one blast of pure energy. I physically dodged it, but as it flew past, it absorbed the wind chakra.

"Kuwashii Chidori Arashi"

She held her hand in the air, gathering what seemed to be an artificial storm in the sky. She brought her hand down and electricity came streaming down to the ground, making the whole field a big lightning rod. I overcame the burning on my legs and torso as the electricity crept up my body. All I needed was her gaze on my hand, which I instantly caught.

"Demonic Illusion: Fuhen no Moegara, Eternal Embers"

The target feels each of the pain receptors in their body active as though their own blood and chakra was made of fire. She struggled to stay quiet but had to eventually succumb to the pain and let it out. I let it distract her for a minute as I let loose another on her.

"Demonic Illusion: Mezamashii Tsumetai, Brilliant Cold"

Ice was slowly overtaking her from the feet up, making her completely immobilized. I needed the time to concentrate on another jutsu that would end this petty fight. She did not fully understand the genjutsus of which she was a part of, attempting to let another jutsu at me.

"Raiton Koudai Sandabado "

She raised her hand up again, letting chakra create an intricate circle above her head. She was about to thrust her hand through when I collapsed the chakra.

"You do not understand that you are in my world do you? It is over now"

I broke the genjutsu, expecting her to still be immobilized from the genjutsu, yet she stood and gave it one last shot.

"Fine, but I have a move that can take you down. It's not complete, but it'll have to do. Lightning Style: Ragnarok"

If it was a last ditch effort jutsu, most likely it would be really powerful or accurate. She had released a massive amount of chakra into the air, adding to the electric storm above our heads. I was quite surprised that she was able to guide that much raw electricity, as it was about to come down as a column of lightning. There were thinner rods across every side of it.

"Kato-Fuuton: Bouseki Enkou Kadou, Spinning Flame Vortex"

I was able to create a protective vortex of fire and wind chakra around me, and deflected the initial attack, but the second was able to pierce my shield. I sustained minimal damage, yet she was still standing, I would change that.

"Alright Naoki, I have played long enough. You remember those arrows correct? They had my chakra within them that is now within you and you realize what that means. Jinchuuriki Mainareberu Kansei"

With the simple motion of my hand, her body was now under my complete control. Once my own bijuu chakra was within her, controlling her jutsus and bijuu was an easy task.

"And no funny business with the bijuu alright? Gogyou Fuuin, Five Elements Seal"

I thrust my hand onto her stomach, making sure that nothing else would happen here.


End file.
